Library of Souls
by ilovetheLorienLegacies
Summary: They said I was different, said I was special. They said I had something in me that they needed. They also said that giving it - whatever I had - to them would be my best chance of survival. What choice do I have? But could I really be as powerful as they say I am? And if I am, am I strong enough to handle such capability as this one?
1. Prologue

I was fiddling with the cloth that bound my wrists when I heard a scream upstairs. "Mum," I gasp.

Her screams are suddenly silenced with a thump. Heavy footsteps make the ceiling vibrate and I hold my breath, crawling on the ground and taking cover behind a cupboard. They strike open the door to the basement as I bite my lip, silencing my breaths.

"_Where is she_?!" one of them demands. I figured that the villagers have finally found me, that they're now about to burn me to my death. _Goodbye, Mum. I'm so sorry for all I've caused you._ It was all I could think of at the moment.

I hear a shuffle from upstairs then my mother pleads to the man. "She's not there, I tell you, she's not!"

"_Shut up_! Or I'll _bash_ your mouth with _this_!" My instincts kick in and the next thing I know is I'm screaming for them to get me. "I'm here! Burn me now, if you must. Just please don't hurt my mother!" I was practically begging now, as I know I am the cause of all this. She screams. The man, followed by two or three more, march down my basement. "I'm behind the cupboard!"

I couldn't stand, for father bound my ankles too. Mum showed me compassion, but he didn't. He thought I was what other people thought of me – a witch. I loved him anyways; I owe him for keeping me alive.

The cupboard moves a little bit before crashing into the wall to my right. Due to shock, I pant, my eyes brimming with tears as soon as I see my mother begging to the men. The man in front of me is wearing dark spectacles so I couldn't see his eyes. He smiles mischievously at me.

"You're coming with us," Mother runs towards the officer – perhaps to protect me – but she was stopped by a gunshot, sending her sprawling on the ground. A pool of blood starts to accumulate around her head, making it clear that she won't be begging to the officers. Not now, not ever. I scream.

"_No! "_I growled at the man, tears flowing from my eyes. _"_You said you wouldn't hurt her if I came with you!" He hoists me up his shoulder and calmly replies. "I didn't say anything, _you_ did." he laughs a long, victorious laugh before marching up the stairs with his men.

I know it's useless to fight so I don't. I let them take me wherever they want, staring at my mother's body as we go up, and at my father's as we go out the door. His head was smashed in, blood pouring from it. I wail in distress, clearly hopeless.

We were greeted by a rather large vehicle driven by another man similar to the one holding me. He takes off his glasses and smiles. To my surprise, his eyes are a blank, milky white. I cry out, "Where are you taking me? Who are you?"

The officer holding me struts towards the back of the vehicle, where a giant metal box sits. He opens the door of the box and drops me inside. I look up, cringing in pain and I see him grinning.

"Oh, hush now little girlie," he laughs. "We are going to have a lot of _fun_,"


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey guys! After what seems to be a gazillion years, I am finally back! :D Please hit Favorite Story and Favorite Author and don't forget to review and tell me what you think of my story! There will be more soon, I promise. ;) So, here we go! **

I land awkwardly on my back, as the wights toss me into my cell. They chuckle, pressing a button on the wall outside thus making the metal door slide close. I run limply towards it and scream as I bang at the door.

_They're not gonna let you out, you know..._

A voice echoes in my head. I whip my head around the room, in order to see where the voice came from. Almost immediately the voice comes back.

_Relax, smart guy. I'm just a prisoner, like you. And please don't talk out loud or they'll beat me up again. Alright?_

I nod my head in agreement and answer back to him mentally. "Fine."

_Good, good. Now tell me, what's your name? No, don't. I'll just look for it._

I give my head the slightest shake and ask. "Look for what? And where?"

_The name's Min Yuan. Call me Yuan, because what kind of a goddamned name is 'Min', right? _ The voice chuckles. Before I can answer back, he cuts me short. _Nice to meet you too, Millard Nullings, scholar of all things peculiar. And just so you know, I gave you a wink._

I stagger back, realizing what this odd peculiar boy could do. "You can read minds_._"

_And communicate through them, obviously. And control them. And look through their memories. And crap like that. _ _Jesus Christ, you're eighty-six? Damn, you're old! _He laughs.

Ignoring his statement, I ask him the question I've been dying to ask since I've gotten here. "Where are we?"

_Ah, now we're talking. You see, we're being held inside this sort of... Wight headquarters? I don't know what exactly it's called, and I don't care either. But I _do _know this is where they conduct their experiments and researches on peculiars. _

Perked up by this topic, I sit with my back on the white wall of my cell. "Tell me more,"

_Everytime they capture one of us, they bring them first here. If they're useful, they stay. If not, they get shipped off to a punishment loop. _

I knew peculiars were brought to punishment loops, but I didn't know about this part. "What exactly do they do with peculiars here? And by useful, you mean...?" I trail off.

_Powerful. Useful in battle. For years now, they've been trying to extract our peculiar abilities and in doing so, resulted in a lot of peculiars' deaths. It all started when they discovered my friend here, Soleil Searwood. Apparently, she has this weird but very rare talent – she's immortal. _

I gasp in disbelief. "Immortal? I've never heard of such a thing!"

_I know right! She never grows old. Want proof? She's from the sixteenth century, and never did she set foot inside a loop – not even once. Didn't even know 'bout them. The wights told her there was something more to her ability, but they won't tell. They must be afraid she'll use it against them._

"I assume they're trying to take our abilities for themselves, so that upon capturing us, - "

_It'll be easier for them to fight us, yes. And if worse comes to worst, they won't be at a disadvantage if ever a war does come. Which gave me an idea all those years ago._

Did he just say _war_? My heart beats fast, and a million thoughts run in my head. My breaths turn shallow, fearing the day when I must fight my hardest though not having the slightest reassurance of surviving. Instead, I give my head a shake and ask a question which may take my mind off things.

"What idea?"

_We have to leave... _Yuan whispers in my brain. The thought itself seems crazy, but considering our situation, we may have no other choice. Still, it isn't a smart idea.

"And how do you suppose we do it? This place, whatever it is, has to be highly secured given that the most powerful peculiars are here. It won't be easy getting out." I ask.

_Did I say it'll be easy? Besides, we're quite a powerful bunch you know. It used to be only me – the telepath, Marlon – the electrokinetic, Isla – the teleporter, and Soleil – the immortal. But now we've got you guys. An invisible, a dead-riser, a telekinetic, a fortune teller, a strong arm, a levitating girl and a bee boy – whatever he's supposed to be called. Our forces had just gotten stronger._

"Yes, but surely they would be ready for this. First thing they would've thought of in the process of building this place would be our security. They aren't too daft not to think about the possibility of breakouts." I explain. That seems to shut Yuan up.

_Then what do you suppose we do? We can't not try... We can't stay here forever, our future can only be either of the two: we die as wight guinea pig or worse... We'll be helping them succeed in their experiments._

"I suggest you ask the others about this as well, and then maybe, someone might think of something else. Or if we really have no choice, we could just formulate an escape plan. But it should be precise, meticulous and seamless. Or else, we're doomed."

_Fine. But dude, I just want to remind you that most of them are relying on you. So most probably, it'll be your choice. _

"What? Why me?"

_Well, aren't you the smart guy in here?_


	3. Chapter 2

I was staring at the cold white tiles of my cell when the metal door slides open. Two men come in – most probably wights since they're wearing sunglasses – and put a metal tray on the table in the middle of my cell. One of them salutes me before going out again.

I walk gingerly to the table, thinking of the worst things that may be on the tray, only to find out that it was merely food – a bowl of porridge and slices of boiled carrots and potatoes. On normal situations I wouldn't even dare touch the cold metal spoon, but hearing my stomach growling and complaining from inside me, and considering the fact that they may not feed me again for another three days like they just did, I proceed to eat.

_No one can think of a single damn thing,_

Yuan's voice suddenly echoes in my head, startling me and thus sending my spoon in the air. "Damn you,"

He merely laughs.

_But seriously dude, they got nothing. Your fortune teller's given up. Says there's no way out. He's crying his eyes out as of this moment._

I sigh in infuriation. "We can't do _anything._.. It's impossible to get out of here,"

_No, it isn't. Besides, I've thought of some things, all we need to do is finish it. Why are you people all so negative anyway? Ugh, it sickens me._

"Let me hear it," I demand.

_I did tell you we have a teleporter with us, right?_

I nod.

_Then let's put her in good use. You see, in her cell she's being treated worse than we are. All we're experiencing is them forgetting to feed us but Isla? She's all bolted up in iron chains – her weakness. As long as she's chained there, she can't teleport. _

A name pops in my brain – Bronwyn. "We have a friend here, perhaps she can break the chains,"

_That's exactly what I was thinking. But how to get her out? She can't smash the walls, by the way. They're made of some sort of strong material, one that can't be destroyed or penetrated by any kind of power. Not even electricity. And I assume they got her bolted up too. If not, maybe drugged._

I stare at my metal plate, thinking of ideas when one finally does come up. "What time do the wights come in and give us our food?"

_Uhm, about lunch time I think? Not sure. But I do know that when they come, they come in pairs and all at the same time._

I stop chewing. "So they just gave you your food now too?"

_Yeah. What'cha gettin' at, smart guy?_

"How many minds can you control at the maximum level?" I ask, standing up.

_All at the same time? Dunno... I haven't really tried. Though I guess I can handle more than ten._

"Good. How many are we here?"

_There's the four of us then you guys, which makes us eighteen. _

I pace around the room, hoping to piece things together. "If the wights come in pairs, then there'll have to be twenty-two of them. I don't think you can handle that much. Your power is strong, but every ability has a limit."

_Now don't you go underestimating me, Null-boy. _

I snort. "Calling me that would just be ironic, Yuan."

_I honestly don't get it and normally I would just read your mind and I would understand. However, we ain't got time so I suggest you go on with your plan._

Giving a heavy sigh, I continue pacing. "Anyways all we'll need is a couple of allies and we're good. Can you control at least half of them?"

_I suppose I can._

"So here's what we're going to do. You have to be prepared. You have to know in advance when our meals are coming. Alright? You're going to have to control the minds of Bronwyn's, Isla's, Melina's, the electrokinetic one's and your wight guards. Those are the ones you have to prioritize. Why? Because they are the ones who'll set us free."

_Alright, alright. This is getting exciting._

"Those ones I've mentioned will have to fight if necessary. You are to control our wight allies. Bronwyn will have to go to Isla's cell and free her. Once she's free, Isla can teleport us outside this wight facility, to safety."

_Wow, that was easy. Why didn't I think of that? _Yuan chuckles loudly mentally before cutting our communication to tell the others. He was excited, but I wasn't. What if it didn't work?

* * *

_Bro! Wake up! We have a huge problem! I'm serious, man. Wake up, dammit!_

By instincts, I refuse to wake up and roll over. But then I feel a huge, stingy slap across my face. "_Ow!"_ I exclaim.

_Dude, seriously! It's an emergency! _

"Why and how'd you do that for Pete's sake?" I snap, forgetting about not speaking out loud. Yuan doesn't seem to care though.

_Who cares? They took her bro, she's going back in the lab! The wights said they're almost done with the experiments! We have to do something, man!_

I sit up. "_Who_ is?"

_Soleil. And they're almost done with the experiments. If they take Soleil now, they'll be succeeding with their plans! Please, everyone won't cooperate until you say "yes"!_

"We can't! Not just yet. We aren't ready, and the wights aren't here yet. We'll have to wait tomorrow!"

_Are you fucking kidding me?! If we wait until tomorrow then there's no doubt we won't even wake up to see the light of day. We have to do this now!_

"No, we can't!" I yell back in my mind.

_If you won't cooperate with me, be my guest. I won't stay here and wait 'til the life's drained out of my friend... Or your friends. Besides, who made you boss anyway?_

Yuan cuts the communication and I panic. It's not yet the time; we haven't even fully assessed the facility yet. How do we know the way out? How would _Isla_ know the way out?

I put my head in my hands, dreading what could happen just a couple of minutes later.

**Author's Note: Hi guys! So the past chapters were pretty boring, yes. But I promise you the next one will be filled with action. ;) Please bear with me haha :D I promise it will be worth it. Besides, I update regularly so you guys have nothing to worry about. :3 So don't forget to hit Favorite and write a review below! ^_^ I'd **very** much appreciate it. **


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Wow guys! A hundred views! ^_^ Thank you so much! :D I swear I am doing my best to make this fanfic interesting and the fact that many of you are reading it boosts my confidence so much. I love you guys! :D**

**Guest: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed. :3 And don't you worry hon, harming either of them would also mean killing myself. HAHAHA :D**

* * *

My cell is heavily secured. The metal door is a sliding type, leaving not a gap between it and the floor. There are no windows of any sort and the walls separating me from the other peculiars are so thick that only the strongest sound waves can pass through it.

Yet I hear the alarms blaring from outside. The peculiars have stepped out of their cells.

Due to panic, I run to my table and flip it, making it into some sort of shield. I hide behind it just before my door slides open. The alarms grow louder as their sounds enter the room.

I take a peek and brace myself, only to see a teenage boy with hair so messy it almost covered his eyes. He was skinny and nerd-looking, with a sweater as red as his eyes were. He has the features of an Asian, so I assume he might be Japanese or Chinese because his eyes were small, as if he was squinting.

"I know you're there, Millard. There's no time to waste so come on!" Only when I hear the voice do I realize it was Yuan. I run towards him and yell so he'll hear me. "Where are the others?"

"Forget about them, I need you to do something." Yuan closes his eyes and concentrates for a minute before raising his hand to smack my forehead. Visions of hallways and room numbers flash in my mind.

"Go to that place, that's where Soleil is. You'll have to get her out of there. Don't worry, I'll send my wights to come with you, to protect the two of you."

I gulp, seeing in the visions that Soleil will be in a lab, being worked on by scientists. There will be a lot of wights in there, and I'll have to sneak past them. I nod anyway, knowing we have no choice. "Where shall I go after I retrieve her?"

Yuan smiles smugly. "Just scream mentally for my name, I'll hear you. Now please go, we're running out of time!"

And so I push past him and run along the hallway to my right. I pass by another metal door similar to mine and see a number twelve above it.

Another cell could only mean one thing – another peculiar. I stop in my tracks and run to the door, pressing the red button beside it. The door slides open, revealing a short-haired girl standing against the wall in front of me. Her face was fixed in a vicious glare.

"Melina, it's Millard! We have to go, quick!" Her eyes brighten up, immediately hurrying towards me.

We run to where my visions are taking me, opening a door everytime we pass by one. Now with us are Horace, Hugh and Olive. "Go back! You can't come with me, it's dangerous! Find Yuan and go with him instead," I order them.

"How can we trust him? What if his plans were a plot to get us in danger too?" says Hugh.

I sigh in frustration, struggling to restrain my displeasure. "It's not _his_ plan, it's _mine!_"

* * *

On our way, we found Enoch, the snake-girl and the clown too. I shush them as we reach the lab where they keep Soleil. We sit with our backs against the wall, a meter away from the lab door. "Keep your mouths shut now, I beg of you. I am on a mission of saving a very powerful peculiar, and I am not looking forward to failing."

They all nod, even Enoch, surprisingly. I scream mentally for Yuan and soon enough he's talking to me. _Got her already?_

I take a peek in the small glass window on the door. There she is, a thin girl strapped to a metal chair. Judging by her face and unmoving body, she may be drained and extremely exhausted. "Almost. Will you kindly order your wights to follow what I say? I would appreciate that, thank you."

Yuan's voice is authoritative this time, not goofy and joking. _Alright. Just wait a couple of seconds. They're coming._

He cuts our communication just as I hear the heavy footsteps of what seems to be five or more wights. Olive gapes and was ready to scream when Enoch pulls her in his arms, covering her mouth. "Don't worry, they're with us. Yuan's taken care of them." I reassure her.

Olive calms down but her eyes still showed a little doubt. I turned to the wights as they stopped marching in front of us. There are eight of them. "Get inside the lab and take down as much as you can, but don't hurt the girl. I'll take care of her."

They all nod blankly before one kicks open the door, sending screams from inside the lab. Our wight allies hold up their guns and swarm inside, me following closely behind them.

As they shoot, men and women fall down limply on the ground, unmoving. There wasn't any blood, to my surprise. I walk slowly inside and I examine a woman on the ground, seeing that our wights weren't shooting bullets at all. Instead, their guns were loaded with small needles which caused the scientists to collapse in deep sleep.

Almost all are now eliminated, which is good news if our wight allies weren't reduced to five. Apparently there were guns and chemicals in the lab which the scientists used to shoot our allies to death.

"Whoever's doing this, I could swear to you that you will regret this. You may destroy this facility, but there are billions of us out there. How are you going to fight us?" the last scientist laughs victoriously. He is in one corner, shooting our allies desperately.

His pride doesn't fade out though.

"You have _lost_, peculiars. Peculiardom is dying. You have nowhere to go, and I _pity_ you!" He states in a pleased voice just before he goes down, a needle piercing his neck. Our allies put their guns down and stand still in a straight line. I run from behind my wight to Soleil.

All the commotion hasn't woken her up. I try to shake her shoulder. "Miss, we've come to set you free. Yuan showed me where you are. Please, wake up."

I fumble for the cuffs that strapped her down to the seat. They're metal though, so there's nothing I can do. "Melina!"

My friends rush in the room to me. Melina pants. "What is it?"

I look hopefully at her. "Can you at least try to unlock these?"

Melina puts a hand on her head, analyzing the cuffs. "I don't know, but I can try." She closes her eyes, hands on Soleil's handcuffs.

Meanwhile, I scream for Yuan again. He doesn't immediately answer though and I had to call a couple of times again before I heard his voice.

_Where are you?_ says Yuan.

In an alarming voice, I answer his question out loud. "We're still in the lab. Soleil's cuffed to a huge metal chair, and we haven't the slightest idea how to set her free."

We hear a sudden _whoosh_ behind us. We whip our heads in that direction and see Yuan, a blonde-haired girl with a pointy nose and chin and a boy who seems to be in his thirties with mahogany-colored hair appear from nowhere. We all gape in amazement before the girl disappears and reappears again, now with Bronwyn and one of the guys from the folding man's army.

"I suppose that is Isla," I say to Yuan. He laughs. "Yep. That's her." Olive runs to hug Bronwyn.

Isla reappears again now with the echolocators, disappears, and reappears again with the plain looking boy from the carnival and the only girl in the army. Yuan looks over to Soleil. We all take a step back as he enters her mind and wakes her up.

Soleil wakes with a jolt, panting but still weak. Bronwyn takes a step forward, pats her hair before proceeding to break the cuffs apart. The metal cracks.

Beads of sweat roll down Bronwyn's forehead, her face all red. After a few seconds, the cuff totally breaks in half. She does the same for the other cuffs – the one holding Soleil's other wrist and her ankles. Yuan chuckles in admiration.

He motions for Isla. She takes the echolocators' hands and teleports them away. She comes back to teleport the rest of us out of the building.

I take off the metal helmet which was wired to the chair off of Soleil's head. "Miss? Are you alright?" She opens her eyes slowly. "We need to go now, let me help you stand up." She nods, but as soon as she sets her feet on the ground, her knees wobble and she falls limply in my arms. Soleil gasps. "I-I'm sorry... I can't do it,"

Her eyes roll back and I blush. I mentally curse and remind myself of the magnitude of the situation and snap back to my senses. "Dammit, they're coming!" Yuan exclaims.

Isla reappears again and takes Marlon's – the mahogany-haired boy – hand but he refuses. "I need to destroy this place." He looks at Yuan in a stern way and he nods. "I'll go last."

"Do what you want, brother." Yuan salutes him and takes Isla's hand together with the snake-girl and they disappear.

I sling Soleil's arm around my neck and carry her in my arms. She wasn't heavy at all; in fact she was even unusually light. She weighed like someone who hasn't eaten for days. If not for her long dress, she may have even weighed lighter than a feather.

I look around the room, only then realizing that it was just Marlon, me and Soleil. The others were already in safety. I sigh in relief as Isla reappears.

Soleil's lips move but I can't hear her voice. "What is it, madam?" she gulps and tries again.

"Take the syringes on the table. Take as much as you can then destroy the rest. Quickly now," I look over to the table and find a glass box full of unused syringes. I inch close to it and do as she says.

I put her down against the foot of the table, take two handfuls from the box and stuff them in a lab coat I found hanging nearby. I wrap it around the syringes, put them in Soleil's lap and carry her in my arms again.

"I'll be in the upper floor," Marlon tells us before running out of the room, sparks of electricity flying from his hands. Isla gasps in alarm. She rushes to us and takes my hand and Soleil's.

My vision blurs to a black backdrop which makes me feel dizzy, before focusing into a clearer, greener environment. I hear a _whoosh_ and then we are in the middle of a forest with the others. Isla teleports back into the building, probably going to look for Marlon.

"Here, put her here." Bronwyn carries a log and sets it on the ground. I kneel and put Soleil gently down on it. I briefly admire the way her face shifts as I pull my arm out from under her.

Shaking everything off, cursing myself for the second time in a row, I walk towards Yuan, who was concentrating really hard. "What is Marlon up to?"

He merely shakes his head. "Something crazy. He's planning to blow the whole building up."

My eyes widen at the thought. "_What_? He's not going to make it!" Yuan opens his eyes, but doesn't make eye contact with me. He looks blankly on the ground, panting. "Actually, I think he is."

A big _boom_ erupts behind us, ash and smoke surrounding us. We all drop to the ground, hands on head. The strong impact from the explosion causes the wind to cover my whole body in mud, dirt, ash and dried leaves, and perhaps everybody else's.

I look up to see flames roaring from where the building had been, debris falling to the ground. No one could have survived that. In worry, I get up and look around for Isla and Marlon, only to see them both hunched against a tree, covering each other. "You okay?" I ask them. Isla merely nods.

I shake off the dust from my body and ask, "How'd you do that?" Marlon shrugs and gazes at the building.

"I just mustered up power I didn't know I had in me, then just like that... The electric wires, plugs and machines exploded with the rest of the building. I kind of... Overloaded it." The way he said it proved to me that he couldn't quite believe it himself.

Now that we're outside, we see how big that wight facility really was. It can't have been just ten stories high. And it can't have been just a kilometre long either.


	5. Chapter 4

**SOLEIL's POV**

Dazed, I slowly flutter my eyes open. My sight is still blurry but I know I'm seeing the face of a manly girl with sandy blonde hair falling just above her jaw line. She looks about two years younger than me and she was smiling. Above her was a jet black backdrop with tiny dots flickering from it – the night sky. We were surrounded with shadows of leaves and branches, coos echoing from them.

We were in a forest.

"She's awake," says the girl holding me. I look down on the ground and realize she had been carrying me. "What happened?"

The girl merely smiles. "Shush now, love. We'll fill you in later, but right now, you need to rest."

I lift my head a little and see a dozen or more people with us. An Asian boy, a little girl jumping around in circles, a girl with a snake coiled around her neck, a clown, a small boy dressed in a fine suit and a top hat – strange people.

_Peculiar people._

I look back up at the girl holding me and jump out of her arms, running to Yuan. I pull his arm so he's facing me. "You got them – _us_ – out?" Panic, worry, and overwhelm fills my voice. He gives me a sly smile. "Didn't think I could do it?"

I gasp and hit him on the shoulder. "I told you it was _dangerous_! Why don't you ever listen to me? What if somebody got hurt? Can you _heal_ them? What if we never got out? How then, would you think the wights would treat us, huh? You think they'll spare us _this time_? _God_, what were you thinking?" My words all come in a complete rush and as all of them completely make sense to me, I pull at my hair and remember how painful it was when they inserted those needles in my limbs and neck. "Time out, guys. Let's camp for the night. Somebody make fire," Yuan orders as everybody sighs and looks for something to keep them busy.

"That was precisely what I tried to tell him. But he wouldn't comply. I understand his point though, Madam. We couldn't just let them treat us as guinea pigs and play with our abilities or worse, take our souls. We can't stay there,"

I sigh and look behind me – the direction where I heard the voice. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. I was just pissed o – "

I was stopped by the lack of the person's presence behind me. It was just the girl who carried me and the small, jumping girl. It can't be either of them because it was a boy who talked. The little girl smiles at me. "He's a show-off," I look around again, not seeing whom the voice came from. "Are you quite sure you came from the sixteenth century? Because it doesn't sound like it." The voice states again in quite a cheeky but at the same time, inquisitive way.

"Are you quite sure you really exist? 'Cause it doesn't seem like it." Yuan replies with a smirk. I give him a scowl and turn to where I think the voice came from. "Don't ask. And what game are you two playing?"

Yuan laughs and tries – though fails – to smooth out his hair. "I somehow manipulated her mind into speaking like people from our generation. Because seriously, who would want Shakespeare nagging at you everytime you come up with an escape plan, right?" He shakes his head. "And oh, sorry Immy. That guy's just invisible. No need to panic."

My mouth falls open, ignoring the nickname he gave me. Yuan naturally calls me that because of my power, my being "Immortal". I cock an eyebrow at him.

"_Invisible_?" The rest of the peculiars sit down, some trying to make fire out of twigs and stones and dried leaves, the others sleeping, talking, getting bored. Yuan laughs at my reaction and excuses himself to go help the others. I instantly feel conscious of how I look so I gulp, close my eyes and try to mask my astonishment, not entirely succeeding though.

"Millard Nullings, pleased to meet you. I rather expected you to remember me, honestly." I try to recall past events from before I blacked out but nothing happens. "I – I'm sorry... Apparently m – my memories are still a little c – cloudy, the medicines may h – have done this," says I, sitting down on the ground, leaning against a tree, gaping at the space in front of me that seems to be talking to me.

Cheers fill the forest as a boy with deathly pale skin and dark circles around his bloodshot eyes beams, having created fire out of two stones and a pile of leaves. Beads of sweat trickle down his forehead so he must've exerted some effort. An older man, perhaps in his thirties, rolls his eyes and creates a spark of electricity with a snap of his fingers, thus making the twigs next to him ignite in flames – Marlon. The other boy groans and marches away.

I hear footsteps in front of me before a white cloth tied up into a bag of sorts levitates from behind one of the peculiars in front of me. "You don't remember this?"

The bag drops into my lap. I untie it, revealing a bunch of unused syringes in clear, plastic boxes. I laugh, remembering everything that happened instantaneously. "You were the one who came for me! That's why I didn't see anything or anyone then, I thought I was hallucinating!"

I feel a shuffle to my left – Millard has sat down beside me. "Yes, I did. May I just ask, what are these syringes for?"

Trying my best not to still gape at him, I reply to his question. "These are the results of their experiments. Apparently, they succeeded though not entirely."

"You lost me." I feel a tug at the cloth, which turns out to be a lab coat, and then it floats slowly to the air beside me, as if somebody was holding it up. "You wouldn't mind if I wear it, do you? It's quite cold out here," I nod and give him the sincerest smile I could muster as of the moment.

The coat takes the form of two broad shoulders but a slim body as Millard buttons it up. A thought alarms me so much that I couldn't help but blurt it out. "Wait, your clothes don't get invisible when you _wear_ them?"

"I do wish they do, though." A smile creeps up into my lips then the next thing I know is I'm trying to stifle a laugh. "So... You're telling me that you're... _naked_?"

"I'm afraid I am. If I don't fully undress then my ability would serve useless," I cover my mouth, clearly blushing. "Is something funny?" I feel the embarrassment in Millard's voice which makes me feel guilty laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh at all, it's rude. I'm sorry, I really am," Then I couldn't stop it anymore and double over. I assume Millard's blushing too. He stays still on my side, either waiting for me to get done chuckling or intensely getting his face red.

Hiding my face in my hair, I suck in a welcome amount of breath. "Now, where were we again?"

I feel the amusement in Millard's voice. "You were going to tell me about the syringes,"

"Right. So originally, the wights' plans were to extract our peculiar abilities so they can use it for themselves. They've tried every possible way just to achieve this goal of theirs. Unfortunately though, the procedure would need vast amounts of our blood and DNA to wholly accomplish this, which they didn't have."

Millard thinks for a moment before replying. "The experiment was a failure, then."

I shake my head no. "Note I said _wholly_. It worked in a way. They were able to extract it from us, from _me_. They created this serum which if injected in an organism, it would obtain my abilities. However, it would only last for a very brief period of time"

"_Fascinating._ If ever one of those was injected in me, would that mean I'd be immortal too? And how long exactly does it last?" says Millard.

"Yes, and you'd be able to step into the present without aging even a bit. The serum would last for an hour before fading away completely, leaving you a little dizzy. You and your friends were lucky, you know. Hadn't you escaped, they've probably gotten their hands on either your souls or your abilities by now." The thought itself causes me a lot of worry.

"Another reason why I decided to follow your leader's inane but, not entirely ineffectual plan."

I snort. "_Leader_? Please. He thinks and acts like it, but his brain is not physically equipped for it. He's too young, too naive to be such a thing." As if by reflex, we look over to Yuan and see him discussing with our friends about a serious matter. I look at Millard for some sort of cue.

He nods over to them. "Come on, let's tell them what we just talked about."

We went over to the campfire and explained to the kids what the syringes were and what the wights were actually planning to do. There were different reactions given by the children: The pale-faced boy whose name was Enoch gave the other boy with the top hat and suit – Horace – an "I told you so," look. The clown groaned and rolled away on the grass, falling asleep. Two twin boys held on to each other, not an emotion to be seen on their faces as their friend, Melina, hugged them both. Most of them though, were just too astounded to talk.

"We've lost," a lad in goggles mutters under his breath. Millard clears his throat.

"Not necessarily. Though our chances against them aren't as strong as before, we still aren't entirely hopeless."

Enoch stands up from the campfire. "Are you really too blind to see the reality here? Or are you just too daft to notice? It's over, smarty-pants! We have to stop sugar-coating things!"

"I am not _sugar-coating_ anything. I am stating facts as I always do. They may have experimented on us and somehow succeeded in it, but Marlon here just blew up the _whole_ facility. Where are their samples now? And their scientists? Their files, formulas, researches, where are they now? I don't suppose they could've survived the explosion. And please, Enoch. Take a seat," Millard snaps.

I decide to speak up. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but... For now, I think our best chance against them is our continued survival. So I suggest we rest now and camp for the night then early morning tomorrow, we walk as far away from this place as possible. The wights will be searching for us anytime soon,"

"I know where the loop exit is," says Yuan. Everyone turns to him. He sits up.

"From what I've seen in one of the wights' minds, the exit is somewhere at the edge of the forest, under the sea, below a small, cave-like rock. It's pretty scary, I admit. But it's easy to find."

My whole body stiffens and I gulp. I was about to ask if there was another way out when Yuan clicks his tongue at me. "Somebody's terrified of the water,"

I scowl at him. "You are such an ass,"

He stands up; clapping his arms towards me and says in a booming voice, "Ladies and gentlemen! Presenting, the lady of the sixteenth century!" Millard stifles a giggle as the rest of the peculiar children look at me strangely.

"You're from _what_ century?" says the jumpy girl in metal shoes.

I groan and mentally curse Yuan. "I'm from the 1520s, but I don't talk like it and think like it and act like it anymore because of what some jerk did to my head."

"The wights did this to you?" says the girl who carried me with a gasp.

I sigh and give Yuan a death glare. "How I wish it was _them_ who did this,"

They all turn to Yuan as he raises his hands in the air. "Don't look at me, I only did it for the greater good," he laughs.

"Anyways, I want to hear your story. How you guys got captured, how you got out. I blacked out then, so I was unable to know." I say, trying to change the topic.

Yuan snorts but goes along anyway. "I'm sure the nerd knows _everything_,"

We all immediately know who he's talking about. Millard doesn't react though. He simple stays still, but then a girl – the one who carried me – lifts Yuan up in the air by the hood of his jacket, sending him flailing around. "You are in no place to call _any _of our friends names," she says calmly.

Yuan look in her eyes and before we even realize what he was doing, the girl puts him down gently and casually patting his head. Yuan smirks. "Thanks, Bronwyn." He says.

"That's _rude_!" says the boy in the goggles, standing up from his seat.

"Easy there, Hugh. I'm very sure you wouldn't want to punch my face off. You need me, man." Yuan shrugs. Hugh grits his teeth, ready to punch when I hear my own voice.

"_Stop it_." I stand up and push Yuan to the ground. "Stop this _madness_. These kids have been through so much and ever since they came you've been torturing their minds!"

"We're not _kids._ Maybe they are, but not me." Says the clown as he tries to sit up and see the commotion for himself.

"Compared to me, yes you are so _shut the hell up_." I snap.

He grunts, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now I'm starting to hope we've left you there with the wights to burn in flames! Since when did you become the boss of me?"

Yuan stands immediately, eyes glaring with rage. "Hey! Watch your mouth, you buffoon! You don't know who you're talking to! We've done you a great lot of things since you got here; you wouldn't even be able to get out in one piece if it weren't for us for Christ's sake!"

_Flames._ More than anything that was what I hated. If the wights hadn't found me, I'm sure that would've been my fate – Being burned alive in flames. As an image of my mother pleading to the wights flashes in my mind, a tear escapes my eye. Despite my watery eyes, I manage to give the clown a hard stare.

"You wish I had burned in flames huh? Don't worry, _I do too_. Now let me just tell you this. All our lives we've been caged, locked in cells, pricked by needles, forced to drink different kinds of chemicals which only tortured us from within. We never fought back though we had the power to, not because we were c_owards_ as you might normally call them, but because the whole Peculiardom is relying on us. We can't afford being reckless,"

The clown looks away. Both my voice and my breathing intensifies.

" And if you think for one second that we will wait for you and be patient on you or adjust to your _trashy attitude_ then you are fooling yourself! _We have the power_, you do not."

Yuan takes me by the arm but I resist. He doesn't fight back, he knows me well enough to know that he should stand back when I have moments like these.

"If you don't want us with you, then fine. Be my guest. Walk away and do what your heart desires. Nobody will stop you, because _we don't need you_. But must you halt in the midst of your journey, I'm sure you'll be reflecting on what you just did."

The clown purses his lips, looking down. I can feel everybody's eyes on me.

"And you'll realize that you need _us_."

I walk away, farther in the forest in fast steps, hearing someone call my name. I don't dare look back.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Thank you for your continued support! Please don't forget to click Favorite and review! :D Love lots! :***

**Lucy Stars: Lucy Stars: Thank you! And yes, I will because for some reasons I seem to be inspired. LOL But I promise I'll keep updating! ^_^**

**Guest/Lord voldy: I love you too, bruh.**


	6. Chapter 5

**MILLARD's POV**

I hear sniffles and a few wails in the distance. She's crying.

Walking cautiously so as not to startle her, I see Soleil hunched against a tree, hair covering her face but clearly crying. Her whole body shakes as she huffs and lets out another wave of tears.

I accidentally step on a twig and she immediately looks up. "Who's there?" her voice cracks.

"It's just me," I reply. I removed my lab coat so nobody would notice me follow Soleil.

Her eyebrows shoot up as she wipes her tears with the back of her hand. "Millard?"

I nod. "Yes. Are you okay? I'm sorry about the clown; he was like that ever since we met him."

She smiles up at me. My heart skips a beat. "I'm fine. Come," Soleil pats the grass beside her. I trudge that way and sit down.

We were in the middle of the forest, the 2-meter part where only one tree grew. The sky was clear and the moon was glowing right above us, illuminating 2 orbs that radiated within them a dark green color which I failed to notice before – her eyes.

"So, I figure you want to talk about what happened? Why I made such a big deal of such a childish comment? Well, the story behind it is pretty dark," she whispers.

I try to give her a smile but remember I'm invisible. "I've heard enough dark stories from my friends, I think I'll be able to cope."

"Okay then." She bites her lower lip. "Before, in my time, I had a wonderful life. We weren't rich at all, but we were indeed happy. Everything went with the flow, we were fine."

I lean forward, sitting up. "Then I turned eighteen. Mother said it was time I had a family of my own, it was time I got married. Father agreed to this and after two years, they had arranged a marriage for me. I did not know the man whom they set me up with, but I didn't care. So we got married."

_She has a husband?_ It was all I could think of. Though I figured it wasn't at all impossible once you see her eyes, the sweet, slick movement of her lips and the way her wavy locks fall down her shoulders and back. She was very beautiful indeed. I gulp and try to focus on what she was saying again.

"We moved to a huge house just next to my parents'. I never talked to my husband, not even once. I wouldn't even know his name if a visitor hadn't come to our house and called him 'Evan'. I never went out of the house after the marriage, either. I didn't want people to see me unhappy, I didn't like being felt sorry for. Months passed and Evan finally talked to me. He said he wanted a family, his own children. I pitied him, yes, but no way was I having a child with a stranger. I told him I was barren."

I breathe out. I don't know why this is such a huge thing to me, but it is. I feel as relieved, not having any idea why. I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying not to slap myself.

"He was devastated. After years and years of complete silence in our house, he went to my room and told me he was going to be away awhile due to his work. He would have to be gone for a couple of years but he assured me that he would send me half of his income so I could manage the house and take care of myself. By that time, I was thirty-two, I think. All I did was nod, I didn't even kiss him goodbye. Kissing someone you barely know would just be wrong, don't you think?"

I agreed, saying nothing but an "Mmm hmm", afraid that she might notice the delight in my voice due to her statement about kissing a stranger.

"Never have I felt such freedom after Evan left. I bought food in the market, instead of going to our backyard and gathering some vegetables just so I could go back to my old life again. What happened though, wasn't what I expected."

"Rumours spread in the whole village about me being a witch. It started when they noticed I hadn't aged a day. I was twenty when they last saw me, now twelve years have passed and still I looked young. My friends had stayed away from me, afraid that I might curse them or turn them to frogs or something. Being the innocent, carefree girl that I am, I didn't care." She smiled bitterly and looked at her knees.

"Which was my mistake. Evan came back when I was forty, but not before hearing the rumours. He was ashamed and terrified at the same time that when he came home he interrogated me at once. He threw pots and pans all over the house, shouting everytime I denied his suspicions. He got too irritated so he..."

Soleil gulps and closes her eyes again. I awkwardly put my hand on her back. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to,"

"I have to, I can't keep bottling this up inside me. Or else, I'll burst." She replies, moving closer to me. I motion for her to continue.

"He took an axe from the backyard. I was crying at the stairs that time and when I saw him bring that thing in, I immediately ran upstairs to my room, locking the door and sitting in a corner. I was terrified, for no one was there to save me at all and all I could do was plead to him. Evan smashed the door into pieces with many strikes of the axe, screaming that I was a monster, I was wicked and I had ruined everything in his life. The door fell open and Evan marched inside. He put the axe above his head, determined to smash my head in half so I closed my eyes instead. But the blow never came."

Soleil puts a hand on my wrist and clutches it, her nails digging in my skin as tears flowed from her eyes like tsunamis. It surged through her eyes, wave after wave, but at least it let out everything that has been kept inside her fragile little heart all these years. And I was helping.

"I felt a cold, numb feeling in my head. I thought it was how death felt like, but then there was a bang on the floor next to me and I see the axe lying there. I looked up, regretting to, because what I've seen has scarred me for life. It was Evan, the same one, with blood oozing freely from the place where his forehead had been smashed in half, revealing the insides of his head. His body fell to the ground as I screamed."

My brow furrows as I stare at the weeping girl beside me. "I don't understand,"

She looks up, crying harder now. "Me too. Neither did my parents when they went inside my room and saw the same thing on the ground. My father was in such terrible shock when he saw Evan's body that he immediately tore his own chemise into shreds and tied my wrists and ankles up. I wasn't crying nor resisting. I blacked out, only aware of Evan's cold, bloody, unforgiving eyes as we passed him by."

"The next thing I know is I'm in our basement, tended by my mother. I was still tied up, but mother read my eyes and told me what happened. She said Father was outside, telling the villagers that I have been killed by the use of a silver fork. He was convincing them that it was my weakness. She said that others heard my scream too and they had come to our house and saw the body for themselves. That's when their suspicions about me being a witch were confirmed. They brought torches and axes and weapons, they were ready to kill me. They also said they had a stake at the ready for me."

She started to shiver so I extended my arm around her, wanting nothing more than to comfort her. Such a tragedy has happened and she's seen and experienced so much that I can only hope I am helping by letting her confide in me.

"Mother and Father kept me there for months. Sometimes, when Father isn't home, Mother would feed me and talk to me. I thanked her for that. She showed me mercy, Father didn't though. But at least he let me live and let Mother take care of me. I know, deep in his heart that he still loved me."

"And you loved him too," I said.

"Of course."

I rubbed her back as she sniffed and wiped the tears off her face. "That's when the wights heard about the talk in the village and managed to find me. They shot Mother on the head; smashed Father's face in, and took me into custody."

She said this with such cold finality, as if she has already accepted that it happened. Nowhere could I see the fragile girl who I held just a few minutes before, perhaps she really did just need someone to tell all this to.

I looked sternly at her. "I'm so sorry,"

She laughed bitterly as she played with the sleeve of her dress. "Thank you for listening."

"It's always been my specialty,"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" says Soleil, looking at my face. Perhaps she wanted to look in my eyes but didn't know exactly where and ended up looking at my chin instead. "I promise,"

She smiles. "You're _really_ there?"

"I a_m_ talking to you, aren't I?" I say with a chortle.

"May I?" She held a hand up to my face. I am about as red as a tomato as of this moment. But I can't embarrass her by saying no. Besides, what's wrong with her touching my face anyways? Nothing, right?

_Right_?

"Go on,"

Biting her lip, Soleil gingerly touches my cheek, jaw and chin, first with one finger, then with the back of her hand. "You're amazing..." she mutters. I only look at her as she does it. I don't think I'm even able to breathe at all. Slowly as she smiles, her fingers crawl up to my lips, tracing its shape.

_How do you breathe oxygen on planet Earth?_

When she realizes what she was actually doing, her cheeks flush to a deep red and her hand automatically goes down, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "I should go," she whispers again then runs off.

She stops, looks back and smiles to say four words before going back to our campfire. "Good night, invisible boy,"

Good Lord.

* * *

**Author's Note: Just had to leave this there! ^_^ I was pretty bored so I basically just wrote what I wanted to. :P Let me know what you think and review! :D**


	7. Chapter 6

**SOLEIL's POV**

We woke up early at dawn, all of us very hungry. Luckily Ryan, the clown, had paper and a pen in his pocket. We were confused at first by his excitement. But quickly albeit carefully, he drew a detailed trap. Then he put his hand above the drawing, concentrated with a big grin on his painted face, and soon it was embossed on the paper, little by little before totally coming out from it.

The drawing was tiny but once it came out of the paper, it became life-sized. Horace, the boy in the suit and top hat, inched over to it and touched it even, as if to test its realness. He confirmed that it was real, all the while gaping at it. All of us were taken aback by this ability, Olive even asked for Ryan to draw a teddy bear for her, so he did. He was in no mood to be mean.

While waiting for the trap to get something we could eat for breakfast, we held our introductions. Yuan was from China. He migrated to America just before Miss Woodpecker found him and took him in. Yuan was captured when the wights raided his loop, as he tried to protect the others.

He said that back in the wight facility, the reason he had access to all of us and half the total number of wights there wasn't because he didn't have restraints unlike Bronwyn, Isla, Marlon, Melina, etcetera. He did have some sort of helmet which was supposed to anaesthetize his peculiarity, but before it was fitted on him, he manipulated the scientists' minds to change the properties of the helmet. Thus, his power stayed with him, but was limited within the facility only. Yuan was pretty proud of this.

Isla was practically raised in a loop as she was born to a peculiar. Her mother's ymbryne immediately sought for another nearby loop which she can stay in after turning twenty-five so she would not age. She was captured in the same way as Yuan was.

Spain was Marlon's home. Just like Abe, apparently, he tried to get out of the loop. He didn't expect wights to find him still, as he hid himself quite well. However, when the wights had first taken him into custody, he managed to escape but had to age a few years. That was why he looked like a grown man compared to us.

Millard told them about his story, naturally an orphan roaming around the city's libraries to read. When he related how he wasn't born invisible, the reactions he received were quite gaudy – especially the one he received from me. Apparently, not much knew about it. I wondered then, how could he have looked like before? Could he still remember?

Then they asked me about _my_ story. That time, I thought all my efforts of avoiding the topic were wasted. But of course I knew how to evade it. I merely smiled and told them about how I stumbled upon a wight and how he immediately knew who I was and taken me to custody. I was sure my face lacked any sign of the sorrow and helplessness that I showed them last night. The others accepted this and saw nothing wrong with my story.

Except for the floating coat right next to me of course, whose eyes I felt on me.

Among us all, I was the oldest, being four hundred and ninety-five and Yuan the youngest. Millard had my age computed for me as I didn't know how much time had gone by. I felt like an old lady.

Olive was most surprised by our ages but sort of bragged about them having a friend much younger than Yuan, whose name was Jacob. Their faces darkened after that, realizing something we didn't. I made myself a mental note to ask Millard later. A few minutes later, breakfast was served.

As we walk further into the forest, I only think of one thing – last night. My thoughts were a complete mess as I remember past events in my life – my parents, Evan, the wight facility, needles but mostly how embarrassed I was having to touch Millard's lips.

It definitely wasn't flirting. I hadn't meant to, I was just carried away by his peculiarity that I wanted to touch every inch of his face and feel his soft cold skin against my fingers. I haven't seen – more like _felt_ – such a talent before.

I think he felt it too because he hasn't talked to me yet since last night. His coat is always hovering around though, which makes me smile to myself.

"Hold it," Yuan suddenly mutters. We stop in our tracks, waiting for his signal, which never comes. Instead he runs off to the left. The rest of us give each other questioning looks before Melina, the short-haired girl, follows him.

The rest of us trailed after them. "I can't believe we're actually following this guy," Enoch mutters under his breath.

What I see before me makes my breaths turn shallow and fast.

There it was – the sea Yuan had been talking about. It seemed to stretch out into the distance, never ending, not a portion of land to be seen. It was as if the forest where we were was the last piece of land in this area.

"Are we gonna have to jump down there?" asks Melina before scampering off to the twin boys whom they called the echolocators. Yuan shakes his head. "Hope not. Pretty rocky down there,"

The edge of the forest was a cliff, wherein if you jumped, you'd either land on the not-so-calm waters or among the elephant-sized boulders.

"The exit should be down there," says Yuan, pointing down at the water. I stared at it for a moment, taking in the fact that the bottom could not be seen from up here.

"How deep is the water?" I gulp.

Yuan smirks at me. "Probably about ten-feet or so,"

Walking away from the edge, I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears. Ten feet! I couldn't even stand properly in a five-foot deep lake! And now we're about to look for a cave deep in this sea?

_No way._

_Drowning. Cramps. Waves. Sharks. _These were what ran endlessly in my mind, and perhaps I staggered back as someone had caught me by the arm.

"Are you okay, Miss?" said Bronwyn. I looked at her blankly, my hands shaking with fear.

"Yes, I'm good."

Someone, whom I assume is Enoch, scoffs. "Oh, great. Now someone's afraid of a couple of waves? We've killed wights and hollows and now this is what we're dealing with? _Cheerio_!"

"T'was Jacob who killed them," says Bronwyn. Hugh coughs. "And Hugh."

"You can't expect everyone to do what you can... And what can you do again?" says Isla, with all the calmness in the world. She merely cocks an eyebrow at Enoch before smiling concernedly at me.

Olive frowned at this. "Even _I_ didn't know how to swim if Emma hadn't taught me how to,"

"Whatever. Just fix this stubborn lass and let's get out of here!" Enoch exclaims as Olive gives me a reassuring wink and as Bronwyn rubs my back.

I started to tear up. I can't be the cause of these people's failure. _It's just water, _I think. _You drink it and you bathe in it and maybe it's not so bad_.

I decide to sit down as Yuan clears his thoughts and tries to remember what he'd seen in the wight's mind. He was trying to look for another way into the water, aside from jumping off a high cliff.

"We can guide you", says a voice in front of me which can only be Millard's. "We always went swimming when the sun sets back in our loop,"

I laugh bitterly. "I haven't the slightest clue how to swim Millard, I'll only slow you down."

One of the boys from the clown's group, Henry, sighs and mutters. "It's just water,"

"Then I guess we'll stay here all day teaching you how to swim." Says Horace, trudging over to me. "We've all gone through so much and went so far to just _quit_."

Enoch snorts again, "Real brave now, aren't we, Grandpa?"

Horace doesn't even show the slightest annoyance on his face. Instead, he fixes his tie and sets his hat back on his head. "Once before, I actually read some of Millard's books. It occurred to me that if a boy like him could read books like that in his whole lifetime, then maybe they aren't as boring as we deemed them to be," Millard perked up.

"Which book are you referring to?" Horace ignored his question.

"You know what I read there?" we all shook our heads. "It said: 'Being brave doesn't mean you aren't scared.'"

He paused to look at Enoch. "'Being brave means you are scared, really scared, _badly_ scared, and you do the right thing anyway.'" He smiles assertively before turning back to me.

"Let's go swimming?" he asks me.

I nod with a half-nervous, half-excited smile on my face.

"_Coraline,"_ Millard mutters.

* * *

"Are you ready?" asked Millard as we waded into the water.

Yuan revealed to us that there was no other way but to jump. However, Isla offered to teleport us to one of the biggest rocks down there. So that's what we did.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Do I have a choice?"

He laughs. "It should be easy, just hold your breath and kick with your legs. Then paddle with your arms,"

One of the two girls from Ryan's so-called "army", Kate, leaned over to me and whispered cheekily. "Once you get the hang of it, it will be fun." She winks before joining her brother, Paul.

We were standing on top of a rock underwater, the water soaking all of us up to the knees. I gulp and close my eyes as a small wave splashes on our thighs. "What if... What if I need air?"

"Then you'll get some, we'll swim right back to the top."

"What if I get cramps?"

"You won't. It appears to be just a short swim from here."

I was about to ask about sharks when our conversation is interrupted by Horace's complaining about his suit getting wet. "Can't the teleporting lady just get her power to using and get us out?"

Isla sighs, her face expressionless, as usual. "I can only teleport to places that are familiar to me,"

"I know where the rock is, it's down at the bottom, about five meters from where we're standing. Follow me and I'll point it to you." Says Yuan.

"How do we know this isn't a plot to get us all killed?" asks Hugh. Yuan sighs.

"You don't. But I'm sure you'd rather come with me than stay with the wights and get hunted down. In other words, I'm your best chance of safety. Besides, there should be another loop five blocks away from here, and I assure you it's safe."

The snake on the dark-skinned girl, Vidya, slithers from her shoulders and hisses at Yuan, as if to threaten him. She gives him a death glare, her teeth obviously gritted by the way her lips are pursed. Yuan merely chuckles.

"Wait, something came to mind," says Henry. "Don't ya folks think it'd be a bit strange for a bunch of wet, dripping kids to be walking around the city in this hour?"

"Can we worry about this later? What's important is we get out of here before the wights get to us," says Marlon in a deep voice. He seldom talks that when he does, it startles most of us. He's a big man with very few words.

Yuan counted to three before he dives underwater, air bubbles being the only reminder he was ever there. The others followed him one by one, some in twos. I clutched Millard's hand in intense anxiety. I felt his pulse grow faster from his fingers.

"Don't let go of me, I'll drown." I say in a tight voice.

"I assure you, I won't."

"Promise?"

He chuckles. "I promise."

"Okay then,"

With that, we plunged underwater, my eyes closed at first, but quickly adjusting to the stingy water after a few seconds. The sand below us was greyish-brown, and within them grew thin strips of seaweed which tickled our feet as we swam by. Black spots which were actually pebbles dotted the sea floor. The others were ahead of us, Melina and the echolocators swimming close by. They weren't fully underwater, however, as their heads were bobbing on the surface. Melina held each of their hands as she struggles to swim. Perhaps Peter-and-Joel didn't know how to swim too. I felt relieved, not having to be alone.

I smile to myself as I kicked with my legs and paddled with my one arm, the other still clutching Millard's hand. I look over to him, surprised to see his figure outlined in the water. He gives me thumbs-up, as if to ask if everything's fine. I nod and motion upwards – _I need air._

We swim up, Millard guiding me and take a mouthful of air as we reach the surface. Panting, chuckling, floating, I felt satisfied with myself.

Swimming isn't so bad after all...

* * *

**Author's Note: I love you guys so much, thank you for your continued support! :D But I would just like to tell you that once May ends, I might not be as active as I am now anymore, thus, not being able to update regularly. Hope you guys understand me, thank you! **

**Lord Voldy: I already took your advice and edited it. ;) Thanks yo 3**


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Hi guys! So it's already May and I'm so so sorry, but I might have to take a break from this after the next few chapters. If I were to continue this fanfic, I might be able to do so during our Semestral break, which is on October (I think). Though I'll try to update at least once a week when classes start, I can't promise you anything. **** I hope you understand and be patient on me. Anyways, thank you for your support and continuous reviews! This is more than I could ever ask for 3 **

**P.S. Who's excited for the movie? ^_^ I AM!**

**Lord Voldy: You love me so much man. And because of your continuous reviews, I granted your wish. I added a *tiny* bit of Enorace here. (Anyone else here an Enorace shipper? HAHA :3)**

**Guest: Finally someone who feels me! HAHAHA Thanks man, MORE than just glad that you love it. 3 The girl in the picture I used for this fic is the one I based Soleil on. She's Meganne Young from Black Sails. And yes, I was actually planning to do that, but in the future, maybe. It will be cute, tho. :**

**MILLARD's POV**

After a series of swimming ups and downs, breathing ins and breathing outs, we reached the cave-like rock down on the sea-floor. In that part, the water already became deeper, thus making me worry about Soleil. But if she was afraid, she didn't show any sign of it on her face. Her emerald-eyes stayed bright, spirited and innocent as they normally are. Her long, brown, wavy hair stayed suspended in the water, making her look like the prettiest mermaid you might have ever seen.

Yuan motioned for us to swim up, so we do. As our heads reach the surface, we all gasp for air, including Soleil, who was laughing between breaths. "I did it," she kept muttering. My worries fade away immediately.

She makes me glad just by being alright. I smile to myself.

"The rock's big enough only for two to three persons. Me and Isla will go first, then the kids. Wait, they can't swim, can they?" he nods towards Melina and the echolocators. Melina shakes her head.

"Alright. Isla will teleport back to you and take the boys with her. Anyone else want to be teleported? The water's pretty deep, so it's okay if some of you are scared, I won't judge." He chuckles, looking at the girl by my side.

I nudge Soleil's arm from underwater. She gives both me and Yuan a look, before turning serious. "I can do it. I'll swim,"

Yuan merely shrugs. "You asked for it." He continues with the plan.

"So me, Isla, the twins, Olive, Bronwyn, Vidya and so on. Are we good?" we all nod. He and Isla dive back into the water, disappearing from sight. I felt Soleil's grip grow tighter, and look over to her, only to see exhilaration painted all over her pink, freckled little face. She felt my head turn to her, making her lips curve into a little inverted crescent. "It's okay, I'm okay. Though I might not have been if it weren't for you," she says.

I blush and look down. "It was Horace who gave you courage, not me,"

"But who stayed with me and held my hand?" she cocks an eyebrow and I smile. She giggles as well.

Isla's head reappears beside Peter-and-Joel's, held each of their hands and teleported away. Olive and Bronwyn saluted us before going down under, then next went Vidya, whose snake uncoiled itself from her neck, swimming by itself towards the cave as she followed. She went alone as nobody wanted to go near her snake.

The rest of us who waited for our turn, floated silently above the water. When I watched Soleil's white, round-necked and long-sleeved dress, swaying lightly against the current, I am reminded by my lab coat which I left in the woods. _I guess I'll have to deal with the cold tonight_, I think.

Then I remember where exactly it was. It was beside the log which I used as my pillow, tied up into a bag for the syringes.

_The syringes!_

I turn back, looking back to the cliff where we had been, feeling downcast, seeing that we've gone too far to go back. If the wights found them, then Marlon's efforts of destroying the facility would serve useless. I mentally slap myself.

_Nonsense. Isla will take care of it._

Says a voice in my mind which took me more than I should to realize it was Yuan's.

Soleil nudges my shoulder. "Let's go?" I nod, taking in a mouthful of air before sinking down in the salty water, relieved.

We swim down, where a black rock sits ten-feet from where we are. Swimming fast, determined not to lose all the air we had in our mouths, we reach the rock. It was coal-like, and had an entrance about two meters wide. Barnacles and seaweed clung to its sides, making it look a lot more creepy than it already is. The inside was dark, all you'd see is blackness.

A determined look plastered across her face, Soleil pulls me towards the hole. We were immediately enveloped in shadows, the waves making echoes inside the cave. My eyes searched for Soleil but the only thing confirming she was in fact there, were her fingers that were entangled in mine.

Long strips of seaweed brushed our skin, making goose bumps rise from our body. For a second there, I felt an intense pressure in my ears. I opened my eyes, which I closed due to the eye-straining dark. There, at the end of the cave was light. We were out of the loop.

Soleil had her grip tighter, and that's when I realized she was almost out of air. Her eyes were shut tight, her cheeks puffing up with the last few amounts of air she had left in her. We swam up quickly, out to the light, up to the surface and out into fresh air. Our muscles burned from the intense fight with the water, determined to get some air. Soleil coughed hard, sending spasms across her body.

She gripped my shoulders tight, struggling to breathe. "Are you alright?" To my surprise, Soleil laughs.

"Oh my goodness, wow, _I did it_!" she exclaims, twirling around in the water. The others, who were with us now, all had amused looks on their faces. "That was more than ten feet and I swam, Millard, I swam!" Yuan shook his head and chuckled. "Save your celebrations for later, Immy, we're about to swim back to shore."

From my shoulders, Soleil's hands and arms go around my neck, hiding her face in it. "Thank you! I've _never_ had a friend like you, "

I smiled. "My pleasure." I relaxed into her touch and held her back.

Two heads bobbed up to our left, ruining our moment, one scowling and the other coughing and panting.

"Is _this_ what being brave looks like?" said Enoch. Horace splashed water on his face, still coughing.

"Oh mister know-it-all, do I have to repeat myself over and over? Besides, it was _dark_!"

"How do you suppose we save Miss Peregrine then, if everytime we walk in dark loops you _wet your pants_! Don't even mention Emma and Jacob!"

"If you have so much to say about what I do and how I react to horrendous places and things, then why did you come in the cave with _me_? You could've gone in with Ryan instead!"

"Who would want to get near that cursed clown?"

Ryan perks up and splashes water as well on the two. "Hey!"

"Who would want to get near _you_?" snaps Horace.

The three rained insults on each other like this, each one of them screaming his own reply. Enoch and Horace though, were the wildest of the three. They were yelling insults that were much below the belt, insults that surely stung. Suddenly the three of them scream out in pain as they held their ears. Ryan went underwater again, shaking off whatever it was bothering them.

"If you _morons_ don't shut the hell up I swear on my mother's grave I will _blow_ all your ears off!" screams Yuan. They all shut up, scowls still not vanishing from their faces.

He put his fingers on his temple and closed his eyes before nodding towards Isla. "I'll show you the way back." he says. In an instant, Isla vanishes from thin air.

Yuan commands us to swim back to shore and dry up in ten minutes. We can't stay in the present, or else we'll all age. Well, except for Soleil. We all take deep breaths and dive back into the water.

* * *

"Will you please draw a fan or something? The boys are freezing, and we all need to dry up." says Melina, rubbing each of the echolocators' arms and legs as she turned to Ryan.

He snorts. "_Hellooooo," _says Ryan. "Are 'ya so stupid to think paper's waterproof? _Jesus, _what's happened with people these days?_"_

Melina glares at him. "No, but a _pen_ is. And can't anyone write on dried leaves?"

We were back at the top of the cliff, the only difference being the wideness of the forest and the number of trees in the vicinity. At the other edge of it wasn't full of rubble, ash and scattered bodies of wight scientists. Instead, there was a noisy road, where fast, noisy cars and trucks drive by. Due to this, the forest lessened by a few meters. We were in the future.

Isla brought back the syringes and my coat, but she also brought back extremely bad news – the wights were coming for us and soon. Plus, she said she thinks they brought a couple of hollows with them since she heard a few growls and it smelt like rotten things out there. Upon hearing this, I insisted we quicken our break and immediately go and seek for another loop.

Ryan grunts but stands up anyway and takes out his pen and gathers a couple of leaves from the ground. A few moments later, we each had our own dry and fresh, coffee-colored clothing. I asked nothing more than a thicker coat than the one I had. Soleil though, looked very lovely in her dress of the same color which wasn't much different than the one she wore from the wight facility, only it had shorter sleeves and it reached only above her ankles. Ryan also drew a bag, where we kept the syringes and our clothes.

We all thank him of course, before discussing about what we do next. Yuan offered to take us to the loop he's been talking about. He said it used to be Miss Condor's before it was raided by the wights. He hasn't heard of her wards since then, so perhaps they've been shipped off to the punishment loops. Hugh's face darkened so we tried to subtly change the topic and asked about how we'd get there.

Yuan asked for a minute as he collected his thoughts for a while before transferring it to Isla so she can teleport us there and spare time. The loop was empty, though it may be guarded by two or more hollows, just like the others. We'd better be ready.

So we came up with a plan. Everybody agreed to let the powerful ones go first – Yuan and co., with Bronwyn. They asked Ryan to draw weapons for them though, so he drew knives, axes and more and handed each to us. But since they were drawn from leaves, they weren't metal and would not cause anyone – or anything – the slightest injury. That's when Paul voiced out and turned the brown to silver.

Apparently, his power was to replicate the physical properties of an object or extract it and transfer those properties to another object. He took Olive's leaden shoes, touched it and took one of the knives. He slowly turned it to metal, much to our delight. Soleil was given an axe, making her stop in her tracks and gulp. Luckily, they gave me a gun so I offered to exchange weapons with her.

She smiles in relief and gladly accepts my offer.

"Stay alert. If we need backup, Isla'll teleport you guys there. And let's leave the kids out of this. So when worse comes to worst, who'll stay with 'em?" asks Yuan.

Hugh reluctantly raises his hand. "I will,"

We all look over to him though he doesn't make eye contact. Nobody argues with him though. We know how wounded he still is, having to find out that Fiona and Claire are captured. So we let him do what he wants.

"Alright then. We should go now, all of you will be in here the whole time," Yuan taps his forehead. "Stay alert."

He, Isla and Marlon go first, then Isla comes back for Bronwyn. The rest of us either fooled around and studied with the weapons or were merely lost in our own thoughts. I decide to talk with Soleil.

"I think I've your peculiarity figured out," I whisper to her.

She smiles. "You have? What do you think it is? And how'd you know?"

"For the past few hours, I have been thinking of your story. I hate to remind you of it, but – "

She cuts me short. "Evan,"

"Yes. And, based on how you narrated it to me, it seems that you have somehow... _Deflected_ the blow,"

Soleil narrows down her eyes. "Deflected? How?"

I opened my mouth for a reply, but before any word can come out, a _whoosh_ comes from our side and we turn to see Isla panting and eyes wide in horror.

"We_ desperately_ need backup." She says.


	9. Chapter 8

**SOLEIL's POV**

Before anyone else can, I stand up and grab her hand. "Take me,"

Isla merely nods and takes it. She was very agitated, her nerves pounding against her soft, shaky hand. "One more, then I'll come back later for another pair."

Melina jumps up. "Me." Isla nods in agreement before taking her hand, bringing us to darkness.

* * *

Isla pushes us to the wall. "Shush," she says. We were leaning against a red brick wall. There was another opposite us, between them what seems to be a pathway to the house.

"How many are there?" said Melina.

"Three, possibly more." Said Isla. "Stay here and don't move unless necessary, _please_." She gives us one look and vanishes.

"Where are Yuan and the others?" I whisper.

Melina shrugs. "I dunno. I'm only sure they, too, are hiding from those ho-"

Speaking of, something slams to the wall and makes it crumble into pieces, almost landing on our heads hadn't we ducked and covered them with our hands. We run to the opposite wall.

"Use your power!" I scream to Melina.

She reaches out for a brick, scrunching her face both in frustration and concentration. Nothing happens though. "I can't! I need to be familiar with everything first!"

Isla reappears again with only Ryan. He brought with him the bag he made and took out a pen and a leaf, drawing something. I hear an explosion in the distance and turn to see Marlon in front of the house, clapping his hands and creating a powerful electric spark. Yuan was behind him, one finger in his temple, another pointing at different directions.

The sparks hit something, outlining the figure of whatever it was that was standing there. There I see the most monstrous thing I could ever imagine. The rest of its body was human-like, but from what seems to be its mouth was a dozen or more tentacle-like tongues. I scream. We hide behind the other wall, putting my gun in good use. I shoot blindly at whatever Marlon was attacking.

Something wet and slimy wraps around my ankle, sending me flying into the air and slamming against the ground. I expected at least three of my ribs to get broken due to the impact, but strangely, I didn't have a single injury. There was not even a scratch.

Where I had been, there was Bronwyn, lifting with her arms the brick wall from its place. She hauls it above her head before throwing it towards my direction. I wail in fear. A monstrous half-growl and half-squeal resounds when the wall stops in midair, seeming to hit something and crumbling into pieces. Some of the bricks fly past me though.

_What are these things_? _Are these what hollowgasts looked like? Sounded like? _

Another squeal makes my ears hurt, then a wet, slimy liquid splashes on my face. I tried to wipe it off, cringing with the texture, but when I look at my hand I see nothing.

An invisible hand grips my wrist and yanks me up from the ground. "You okay?" says Millard.

I felt so relieved to hear a friend's voice. "Yes, yes I'm fine. What should I do?" I said, my voice shaking in fear.

"_Shoot_. Shoot and shoot and keep shooting. Look at where the others are attacking and fire at those directions. Once you think the coast is clear, run to the house and get in." My eyes widen in horror.

"_Alone?_" an axe, _his_ axe, floats up from the ground, where he dropped it as he hit the hollow, and up to my side.

"Of course not. That's why I'm with you,"

The axe goes up before slamming into an unseen body, wetting our faces with more stinky invisible liquid. Millard grunts. "They better have a shower in that old house," he mutters.

The axe stays suspended in there, it seems to be stuck. For a moment I was frozen, lost in utter fear and confusion, but then the rough, slimy thing that wrapped around my ankle previously, now wraps around my neck and lifts me to the air. My instincts kick in so I fire at the thing that was holding me. It screams again, but lets go of me. Millard was finally able to detach his axe from its body. My back crashes against the ground, but again, none of the expected pain was felt.

As if feeling what I was supposed to feel, the monster squeals again. There was a thump on the ground so I assume it fell. I shoot at that direction, avoiding the place where Millard's axe is floating close by.

The monster quiets down, and stays there on the ground. It seemed like it was unmoving as the flattened-down grass outlined its shape. "Is it dead?" I ask.

Millard pants beside me. "I think so,"

We hear a scream from afar so we follow it. "C'mon," Millard says.

I pant loudly as we run, ducking everytime Marlon's sparks appeared from nowhere, shooting everytime we see our friends aiming for something. "How many exactly are there left?"

"I'm not sure, but according to Yuan there were four of them so let's just assume there are at least two left." Said Millard.

I feel something sweep our feet out from under us, leaving us falling to the ground. The monster growls down at us. It grabs me by the arm and lifts me into the air. In that moment, I thought my shoulder was gonna snap. But of course it didn't. I feel one of its tongues unfurl from its mouth and caress my cheek, covering it with slime. I groan in disgust.

As if in spite, it hurls me hard towards the house, my gun clattering by my side. Millard screams.

"_Get inside_!" he says.

Coming back to my senses, I run to the door and grab the knob. It was an old and rusty one, so I struggled to make it work. I shook and shook and shook it with effort, banged at the door and slammed my own body against it.

I was getting frustrated, my hair gathered in my fingers. I bottled all my anger and frustration and fear in me. This was where I would get my strength. This would give me adrenaline. I inhaled, closed my eyes and held the knob. I let all my emotions out, doing what I can to open the door, when it falls off of its hinges.

It crashes onto the floor before a growl makes me freeze into place and tongues wrap around my neck, and limbs, lifting me above the ground. I couldn't breathe. It pulled me closer and closer until I was pretty sure I was only inches away from its hungry mouth.

I close my eyes as it takes its first bite of me.

* * *

**Lord Voldy: I love you so much, dude. Like, I'm thanking all the birds in the sky and all the Gods that all the people believe in, (but mostly our God ofc lol) for blessing me with your kind soul. You are indeed an angel from above. *Miss P voice***

**Renbow: Eydren, is that you? :OOO**

**Don't forget to follow, favourite and review! Love you guys :***


	10. Chapter 9

**MILLARD's POV**

She stays rooted in her place, her arms and legs going stiff, the nerves jutting out from her neck. Slowly, she floats up in the air.

"Soleil!" Yuan shouts. He was positioned to run over to her, but another growl from behind him makes him stop. He and Marlon try to attack it.

_Oh my god, it's going to eat her, oh my god no..._

I grab my axe and a gun that was lying on the ground near me and aim for the hollow. Even before the bullets hit it though, it wails very loudly – so loud that I almost thought my eardrums were going to explode – in intense pain and drops Soleil hard on the ground with a thump. The drop was too high not to break at least one of her bones.

"Oh my God!" Bronwyn shouts as we run over to her.

The hollow howls again, clearly angry. Soleil's body jerks before the hollow gives out another pained yell. Soleil jerks again and shrieks, her whole body trying to wriggle free from whatever force was pinning her to the ground. The hollow's wails have gone completely silent, thus giving me courage to come near her.

"Soleil! Are you hurt?" I ask, kneeling before her head.

She retches and clamps her eyes shut. "Get it off me, please, get it off, get it off," she whispers. The hollow, completely lifeless, landed on top of her, drooling and bleeding. One of her hands moves from its place and wipes relentlessly at her face. The smell makes me cringe.

"Wyn!" I call out. "Help me out!"

I feel for the hollow above Soleil's trapped body and end up touching two of its rough, slimy tongues and its loose skin. I'm pretty sure my face is all crumpled up by now.

Gulping and mustering up all the courage I have inside me, I lift two of the tongues and direct Bronwyn where the limbs of the hollow possibly are. Henry and Vidya help too, and soon enough Soleil is free from the dead, rotten, stinky body of the hollowgast. She crawls shakily, hands outstretched. Her fingers brush my shoulder and the next thing I know is she's clinging to me. My cheeks turn to a light shade of pink.

"Those things are horrible," she gasps out. Her dress was so damp with invisible goo, but I hug her back anyway.

I grab her by the shoulders, the pitch of my voice going higher due to alarm. "H-How did you kill it?"

Soleil looks down, breathing hard. "I don't know,"

"Did it bite you?"

"I _don't_ know," she squeaks.

* * *

"There are only a dozen beds in there, meaning some of us will have to share rooms. You know what I mean, little brother." Says Kate, winking at Paul. He groans.

We were in what seems to be the house's living room. There were three couches here, two of them long and the other a single-person one. On the wall near me was a calendar which showed the date of this loop. It was February 2, 1895. None of us was older than today so we were fine. I was sitting on the floor, near the fire, my jacket wrapped around me. I was waiting for my turn to use the shower for I was indeed stinky. It was a cold and breezy night.

Melina raises her hand. "Joel-and-Peter will stay with me,"

"I'll share with Bronwyn!" exclaims Olive.

Kate shrugs. "Fair enough. One more pair, I think?" She squints. "Yep. One more."

The room was even more quiet than a library. Kate rolls her eyes in frustration. "If you guys don't speak up now, I'm gonna ask Yuan to pair you up. He'll know who won't want to be paired with who. And I'm gonna tell 'im to make sure you'll regret it."

The children all look at each other, each of them expecting someone to speak up and share his or her room, but nothing comes out from anybody's mouths. I would happily offer my room to Soleil, but if I do, wouldn't that be too obvious? And would she even let me? Plus, that would be too awkward. I let the thought float in my imagination for a little while though.

Kate sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Don't blame me for anything, you guys asked for it," she goes upstairs, where Yuan was investigating Miss Condor's former study. A minute or so after, he yells.

"Enoch and Horace!" he says with a chuckle.

"_What the hell?_" said Enoch. Horace's eyes widen out.

"You heard him," said Kate, winking both at Enoch and Horace.

"I'm not sharing a room with anybody, particularly _cowards_," He glares at Horace who only hides his face by adjusting his top hat. _Is he actually blushing_?

Kate raises an eyebrow. "Then you should've said earlier,"

This strange sight causes me to feel a little awkward, considering Horace sits in front of me. I could see every movement and emotion that he shows, and it only confirms my suspicions even more. Horace's entire face was red, though you'd only notice it if you really looked close at him. His eyes wandered to different places but avoided one particular spot – Enoch's seat. I smile to myself despite being uncomfortable gaining this knowledge about the two.

Soleil walks over to me, startling me a little. We left her inside a room, as she wanted to be alone for a while. I knocked a few times an hour ago, but she didn't answer. I figured she'd be asleep. Of course we checked on her first, but there were no injuries at all. She said she wasn't even in pain. This took us all by surprise.

"You said you think you have it figured out, right?" said Soleil.

I shrug. "I think so, but I'm not entirely sure, are you okay?"

Soleil nods. "Explain to me then," she pulls me up and leads me to the back door. Outside there was a clear, glass table with curved, metal legs. Two metal chairs made out of curved, white-painted metal were on either sides of it. A few feet away from us were an old swing set and a slide. They were rusty, thus making the place look sadder than it already is.

We take each of the chairs and sit down. "I get what you mean by 'deflected', but what I don't get is _how,"_

I sigh, rub my hands and ready myself for a long discussion. "I have related this situation with the one with your _husband_ – " I don't know why, but I felt the need to emphasize the word. "-and from what I've inferred it seems that – "

"That what?" Soleil interrupts, leaning closer to listen.

"It seems that whatever injury or harm one tries to inflict upon you, is instead inflicted on the attacker himself,"

She leans back, nodding at my theory. "Does it go like, for example... If you tried to cut me, I would not be harmed at all?"

"Not at all."

"And you will be?" I nod.

She crinkles her nose in disgust. "Oh my gosh, that's awful!"

I laugh and lean back to my seat as well. "How is it awful? It's actually _very_ powerful, come to think of it. No wonder the wights tried to take it for themselves, as your power is a great... Mode of both offense and defense,"

Soleil perks up at this. "Speaking of, how come they were able to inject me with those needles and serums and whatever those things were? I mean, even the needle itself pricking my skin is harmful, right?"

I shrug. "Every peculiarity has a weakness. We just have to discover what yours is. But perhaps they gave you something that could numb your senses, and thus numbing your peculiar abilities as well. Did they?"

"They always gave me those,"

"Then it's possible that that's the reason behind your weakness. Unconscious, you wouldn't have control over your power. Or maybe it has something to do with your emotions. Don't you think?"

She stands up from her chair and walks to me with a determined look on her face. "I don't know but let's find out. Hit me,"

"Um, what?"

"You heard me, hit me." Said Soleil.

I laugh. "Are you crazy?"

She shakes her head. "No. I'm sure you won't hit me hard anyway,"

"How can you trust me not to?"

She smiles. "I just do,"

I still couldn't believe this girl would ask me to hit her. What should I do now? Firstly, she's a girl and I don't hit girls. _Boys_ don't hit girls. Second, after everything that's happened, I'm pretty sure we've become friends. Surely, you wouldn't ask a stranger to just hit you like that. I would never hit a friend, unless our lives depend on it. And lastly, who on _Earth_ hits a girl he's _crushing_ on? I mentally slap myself.

I put my hand near her face as I breathe out hard. "Don't blame me if it stings,"

Soleil snorts. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?"

She closes her eyes, calmly readying herself for the blow. I bit my lip and braced myself.

_I can't do it._

"_Gah_, can't I just pinch you instead?" Soleil slumps and rolls her eyes.

"Fine, whatever! Just hurt me in any way you can." She says whilst giving me her arm.

I take one look at her arm in my lap and inhale. _I hope this works_. I push my nails into her skin and bring them together slowly, though forcefully.

"Ow!" she pulls her arm back, rubbing the part where I'd pinched it. Guilt courses through me as I see the skin's turned red. "You didn't do it properly," says Soleil with a bitter laugh.

"How'd you feel? I mean, were you nervous? Excited?" I ask.

"Nothing, really. I trusted you wouldn't hurt me _that_ much,"

I smile in satisfaction. "It goes with your emotions, I think."

"I don't get it." Says Soleil.

I decide to show her instead. I wasn't going to r_eally_ hit her, just scare her a little and give her a mild slap. Like I said before, I don't hit girls. Besides, even if I do, I'm sure I still wouldn't hit _her_.

"I'm sorry if this will hurt, but it's essential for the achievement of our knowledge of your peculiarity. And I'm warning you, okay? This might sting a bit," I say, trying to convince her.

Her eyes widen. "Don't hit me _very_ hard!"

I pretend to click my tongue. "I'll try,"

Soleil's mouth drops open and she gulps, but determined to find out more about herself all the same. From the looks of her face, it seems that I have done the trick. As fast as I could, I bring my hand to hit her on the cheek. She doesn't react.

Instead, I feel as though she slapped me first before I did. I didn't even get to see my hand touch her face, as I feel this sharp, stingy pain on my cheek. I gasp and try to rub the throbbing off. Soleil looks at me concernedly, though her mouth is wide open, taking in what happened.

I'm sure she's very excited about her peculiarity as well. So instead I smile.

"That really happened?" she asks.

I laugh. "Yes, yes it did. Ah birds, I'm starting to wish I just didn't hit you." Apparently, I hit Soleil harder than I thought.

She chuckles as well, taking my hand off my cheek. "Well, if you didn't, then we wouldn't know about this, right? Come on, let's get something for your cheek inside, we're gonna have to discuss about this _all night long_,"

"Gladly," I smile.

* * *

**Author's Note: Thank you thank you for reading guys! Please don't forget to Follow, Favorite and Review! ^_^**

**Lord Voldy: Are you sure those are the angels singing or is it you? I don't know man, it's raining pretty hard here. :/ (ILY BRO T.T)**


	11. Chapter 10

**SOLEIL's POV**

We discussed everything about my peculiar abilities last night. According to Millard, it was my emotions triggering my power. _Fear_, to be exact. Once I forget being afraid, I also lose my power – I get vulnerable again. I was nervous about this of course, because what if I get too complacent and reliant on my power that I fail to be afraid?

"Fear is something we cannot escape, it is inevitable." Said Millard.

I kept that in mind.

Today, as we scheduled, is the day when we are supposed to discuss about our next move. We were all sat down in the living room, waiting for Isla and Marlon to wake Yuan up. Almost an hour's already passed and some of us are getting impatient. Vidya's snake slams its head on the coffee table in irritation, thus, knocking off Enoch's little clay man off it. It falls face flat down on my foot. I was nudging it when it jumped up and kicked at my leg before running off to its owner. Isla and Marlon march into the room, much more irritated than we are. Yuan follows them closely behind, rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

"Good morning!" he exclaims with a big smile.

Enoch snorts. "More like good _evening_,"

Yuan teasingly pats the head of Enoch, who slaps it away. He sits on the floor since the couches are full. "Okay, so how do we start?"

Millard adjusts his seat beside me. "We have to decide what our first move will be. Certainly, we can't stay here, as we don't know until when we're safe. Don't even mention food and resources,"

"The food and resources should be easy, we've got Ryan." Said Yuan, motioning toward the clown whose face-paint has already faded.

Ryan rolls his eyes at this. "Stupid, I can't draw food. I can draw the outline, the shape, but then it won't be edible. Unless you're willing to eat paper then we're cool,"

"Why'd you just tell us this now? What's wrong with you, man?" said Yuan, wittily – or so does he think.

Paul speaks up. "No problem, I can turn it into bread."

"Nice." said Yuan.

"What about Miss P? And Miss Wren? Have you _completely_ forgotten about them?" gasps Bronwyn. The others were perked up by this, realizing something that we did not. I looked at Millard for an explanation. He sighs.

"Our ymbryne was stolen from us, and we need to get her back. And we also made a promise to a friend that we'd do the same for their ymbryne."

Yuan stands up. "What about ours then? Just to remind you, your capture means all the ymbrynes' too," he snaps.

"All the more reason to rescue them then," replied Millard. "We can't let the wights do what they want, because then that would mean the _death of Peculiardom. _They will not only take our souls, they will rule us and the normals too. This could lead to _war_," I've known this for a long, long time, but the others seem to be taking it in just now.

"Claire and _Fiona_," Hugh mutters. "They're in _danger_ too! For all we know, they've taken the bloody peculiar souls out of them too!" he cries out. Bronwyn pats him on the back as tears streak his face.

"That's another one of our problems, and we haven't even talked about Jacob and Emma yet." says Millard.

The others groan at this, voicing out their own opinions and thoughts. These children have gone through so much, but deep inside they're still just children. Children preserved by the horrors of their times and the darkness that lurks around them. It's lucky they're still alive, and that we're all safe right now, but what to do next? All throughout their lives they had someone to guide them, their paths well paved for them, but after what just happened, I'm not sure how they can handle such pressure. How _we_ can handle such pressure. The rest of Peculiardom is relying on us, and though we've just escaped, attacked and destroyed an entire wight facility, how are we supposed to know what we should do? How should we know how to save our species?

Henry fiddles with his jacket and speaks up. "We could continue building the army," We all look at him. "Y'all heard me. We can look for other survivors out there and take them with us." Said he.

"Then what? Hide? _Please_, we have to stop being naive and think about what's really happening here!" yells Enoch.

Henry cocks an eyebrow at him. "That was actually what I was doing. Taking them with us would also mean our forces getting stronger, then we could train and exercise our peculiar abilities. And when we're ready, we can save the rest of Peculiardom. We can save our ymbrynes and kill those wights for good."

"I'm afraid by the time we get fully ready to attack, it would be too late. Time's dwindling every second, every moment that we spend here," Said Millard.

Marlon grunts, clearly outraged. "Then what do you suppose we do?"

Millard sighs again. I'm certain he too, doesn't know what exactly to do. Add that to the pressure given to him by everyone, as they expect him to always just _know_. Luckily he has his coat on, letting us know where he is so I touch him on the wrist reassuringly. He inhales. "Personally, I'd think the smartest thing to do for now is heal and rest. Give ourselves the time to restore our vigour. Expect that every now and then we'll bump into wights and get in trouble because they'll be looking for us. And should we fight, we'll need all the energy we have."

Yuan rolls his eyes. "A while ago you said time's "dwindling". And here I thought you were _so smart_."

His statement makes us all freeze. It was too offensive, too much below the belt. "How _dare_ you," I say in behalf of the others. I understand the weight of the situation, but I also understand that every one of us is pressured by it. He had no right to judge anyone just because he saved our lives back at the facility.

Millard coughs. "I never said I was smart. I am merely cultured and very observant. Because of this, I am able to analyze situations very well and comprehend things that are beyond your perspective. And those things are what have kept us alive these days." He motions towards his friends. "And I never said I was done speaking. May I continue?"

Yuan shakes his head. "Whatever."

"I'll take that as a yes. So as I said, we have to take a break. However, in doing so, we should also try to contact any living peculiar soul that we know and yes, I am referring to Emma and Jacob. We'll need Jacob's help now more than ever and Emma's fire is a strong weapon too. Besides, they're not safe out there. It's just the two of them," Said Millard.

"Miss Bloom would know what to do," said Bronwyn, looking forlorn.

Olive jumps up, nearly floating out of her leaden shoes. "But it's okay! We're not hopeless, we've got Millard with us!" she exclaims. Millard only replies with an unsure chuckle. "Um, what?"

"She's right. Emma's been leading us ever since, but she was never alone. Millard always backed her up, right?" Horace smiles at Millard's direction. All of them in their group agree to this.

"I did?" said Millard.

"Alright, alright. For now let's do what smarty-pants just said, but if any of you get any better ideas, you better speak up." Interrupts Yuan. He seems to be impatient and all the more irritated than the rest of us.

Olive slips off her shoes and floats all the way up to the ceiling, giggling. "And because it's so boring here, let's show off what we can do! We only had small introductions back in the woods, but we didn't really show how we do it, did we? Well, the others did but there are some who haven't too." Due to her moving and laughing too much, her tiara slips from her head and down, but not before Isla teleports below Olive and catches the tiara. She smiles up to the little girl, handing the tiara back, and Olive returns the smile to her.

"How about you?" Olive points at Kate. She shakes her head. "_No," _

Her brother nudges her with his shoulder and doubles over. "Come on, show 'em!"

"You are s_o_ dead." She says to Paul. Kate takes one look at him before opening her mouth very wide. At first nothing happens but then we hear a soft, tiny tune which gets louder and louder. A strong, piercing note comes out of her throat, like the voice of a woman from the opera. Soon enough, the sound of an orchestra backs the voice up in such great intensity that the music makes us all quiet down and listen. It was beautiful.

And it was weird too. Because all of the sounds came from one person only – Kate.

When the sonata ended, we all burst into applause as Kate smiled sheepishly with her cheeks painted with a light shade of pink. "Thank you, thank you," she says, ignoring her brother's teasing.

After Kate's wonderful performance, every one of the peculiar children were very excited to show off his or her talent. The others, who couldn't perform it, described their talents with pride- especially Horace. Enoch demanded he needed a dead body to demonstrate, but there were no other dead bodies in the place except for the hollows' which were kept in the basement. He wasn't going near them no matter what, however. So instead he just showed us his clay man and explained.

Marlon created pictures and replicas of different flowers with his electricity. It was very realistic and beautiful, as sparks of white light danced around the outline. Each image he created glowed brightly with light. We applauded him for this.

We ran up the stairs to a painting on the wall near Miss Condor's room to watch Henry perform his act. We were confused, yes, but excited all the same. He put the painting down from the wall to the floor and started to step onto it. But instead of landing on the painting, his foot seems to have gone _through_ it. We still see the foot though, but it looks like it's been turned to paint too.

Melina touches it and gasps. "He's _in_ the picture!" she exclaims.

Indeed he is. It was like he had somehow entered into the world of the painting, and became part of it. He went in fully, his entire body turning to paint. He moved and walked around in there, smiling and showing off. We praise and give him a round of applause as we walk back to the living room.

To my surprise, Olive asks for my peculiar abilities. "No, I-I'd rather not show you..." I reply.

Olive pulls my by the arm. "Aw, come on! The rest of us showed our talents too, anyways!"

"No, I'm serious. It's d-dangerous,"

I hear footsteps to my left and see Millard's brown coat hovering in the air. "Soleil here has one of the rarest, most _marvellous_ peculiarities here," said Millard. I don't know why, but my cheeks flush.

"Like you?" Olive giggles. "I think you guys are _meant to be_,"

My cheeks turn redder and my heart beats like I've just run a kilometre. "Excuse me?"

"So, what's her power?" asks Olive, trying to change the topic despite still looking at us cheekily.

To our surprise, Millard's voice has turned a little shaky. "W-Well, Soleil c-can... Is... She is..."

Olive laughs again as I face-palm. I only did that to mask my blush though. "I'm immortal, as you guys probably already know, but aside from that, me and Millard have had this amazing discovery last night. We conducted a few... 'experiments'," I say, smiling knowingly and cheekily at Millard, reminding him of our incident the previous night.

From the way he talks, I can sense he's smiling too. "Yes, and it showed that she is _invulnerable_,"

Yuan jumps from his seat. "Invulnerable?! She can't be! Every peculiar has a weakness!"

"I do too. I have to 'wet my pants' everytime, as Enoch would call it, or else I'll lose my power and become vulnerable." I say.

"You mean, you have to be scared all the time for it to work?" asks Horace.

Enoch snorts _again_. "Why? You jealous, grandpa?"

Horace breathes in and ignores Enoch's comment. I try to explain more. "Yes, I have to. It goes like this... If for example you try to stab me, no injury will be inflicted on me. Instead, it will be inflicted on you, so nothing will happen to me, but you'll get the stab wound." says I, trying to mimic the educational tone Millard uses on all of us.

"That's awesome," says Kate.

"And peculiar," agrees Millard as he sits back on the couch.

I smile. "And peculiar."

* * *

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Sorry for the one-day-late update, **** I just had to go to this concert last Friday and I went home late so I didn't get to write. Anyways, I hope I can make it up to you. **** Don't forget to Follow, Favorite and Review! :D**

**Lord Voldy: Thank u bruh. :D And I promise you, more are coming ;) **

**Renbow: Chill dude. If you die then you won't be able to read the rest of the story! :P**

**dog88: Thank you for following me! **


	12. Chapter 11

**SOLEIL's POV**

I was going to walk out the door when I heard Yuan call my name. I turn to face him and talk before he even asks me to. "I'm going to explore the loop more, see if there's anything interesting,"

Yuan's been controlling us ever since we got here. He thinks that after his big act at the wight facility, he's turned into some sort of leader. Almost everybody's become pretty irritated with this so most of us just stay in our rooms all day. "_What_? I thought we've talked about this already! Nobod-"

"You're not my dad," the statement stung me as well, not because I'm not used to being mean – though I really am not – but because it referred to my father. It's been years, centuries, but of course it still hurt me. He _is_ my dad after all. But Yuan has to get my point.

I look down and sigh. "You still can't go alone," said he.

"And that's why she's not," says a voice behind him. Yuan and I turn to that direction. Seeing nothing in the place where the voice came from makes me smile. "I was coming with her."

Yuan turns to me instead, raising an eyebrow. "I see..." he nods. "Fine. Just don't do anything _stupid_." He walks away from us.

"I'm not the one who has the tendency to do so," I snap back.

I smile at Millard, my angst fading out of my system. "Are you really coming with me?"

"I don't know. Would you want me to?" he replies as my smile grows bigger and brighter.

"Why not?"

* * *

It was a very busy but a happy market with people hurrying to buy food, though not before giving smiles to each other. The environment here was very jovial. It even took me a rather long time to realize I was returning these people's smiles too. I could tell Millard was too, though it didn't really matter. I almost forgot he was invisible.

Trying to spark up a conversation, I say what I've been meaning to ask him these past few days. "Who's Emma and Jacob? And Fiona and Claire?"

He sighs. "They were our friends from back in our loop. Unfortunately, in the midst of our journey, they'd been separated from us. Fiona and Claire were captured, Jacob and Emma escaped."

I only nod. "Based on how the others are reacting... It seems that Emma was your leader of sorts, and Hugh's a little shaken up with Fiona and Claire. Are they and Fiona...?"

"Yes, Emma's been leading us, taking care of us for as long as we can remember. And yes, Fiona and Hugh are a couple. They've been together even before our ymbryne discovered them." Said Millard.

"Well that explains it." I laugh a little. "What can they do?"

We walk towards a fruit stand where the vendor smiled and tried to give me discounts. However, I had not any money with me so I had to reject it, sadly. I promised to come back though.

Millard starts explaining. "Emma's a spark. She can make fire with her hands only. Fiona on the other hand, can grow plants, vegetation, the works. She'd really be useful during these times, considering we're low on food. And Claire has a back mouth,"

"A _back mouth_?" My jaw drops open as Millard chuckles at my reaction. "Indeed. She has these sweet, golden curls to cover it though. I'm afraid she's rather shy about it."

I smile. "She sounds adorable..." Millard laughs too. "What about Jacob? What can he do?"

"Ah, Jacob. He can see and sense the hollowgasts, like his grandfather." To be honest, this peculiar ability sounds a little terrifying to me. Hearing and _smelling_ those monsters almost made me want to kill myself instead, so I can't imagine how much worse I'd feel if I were to see them.

"You guys met his grandfather?" I would say they're really old, but then I remembered I was from the sixteenth century.

"He came to live with us for a time too, yes. But then time came and he wanted to be free and so he left. This left Emma completely shattered, especially when Jacob brought the news about his death." Millard's voice fills with gloom.

We've been walking around the market, staring at stalls and their noisy vendors and now we've reached the end of it. We decide to walk further though, to explore more of the town. I wonder if any of the people noticed I was talking to an invisible friend. If anyone did, how'd they react?

"I'm so sorry to hear that," I reply to Millard but he just shrugs it off.

"Don't be. Emma's been better after Jacob came to us, anyway. He's gotten her in great shape." Said Millard.

"Oh. Then that's good news," I said.

We walked in silence for a while, as we passed by more people but no other interesting place. The road only seemed to extend longer in the distance so we decide to turn back and walk the opposite way. "So... nobody ever discovered you?" he tries to think of another topic again.

"An ymbryne, you mean?"

"Mm-hmm," said Millard.

"Well the wights told me that one of them birds was watching me, waiting for the right time to tell me about my identity, but then they discovered my files in her desks the night they raided her loop so she didn't really get the chance to take me under her wing," I explain.

"That's unfortunate. But looking at the bright side, if you were in one of those loops then that would mean your capture too. At least whoever that ymbryne was, never got the chance to get to you," he said.

I shake my head and purse my lips. "I don't really know, I don't think it would've changed anything. The wights would still discover me and get 'amazed' by my peculiarities and experiment on me... Though I guess my parents wouldn't have died,"

Perhaps Millard noticed I was a little uncomfortable with the topic so he changes it a second time. "You know, there's something else that's unique about you, excluding your peculiar abilities."

I smile at him and say, "Really? What is it?"

"Your eyes are _green_," I could feel him looking right at me so I blush.

"They are? How is it unique?" So my eyes are green. I haven't even noticed that in the entire four-hundred years of my existence, but an invisible boy does.

"Apparently, in this whole wide world, only one to two percent of the entire human population has your eye color," he says proudly as I chortle at this.

"And how would you know that?"

A man in a suit walks by us and salutes me. I smile back and nod. As he passes by, I notice that a wallet is floating from his pocket. My eyes widen as it floats towards me and a voice whispers near my ear.

"Well I _am_ a nerd after all," said Millard. I chuckle in surprise as he hands me the wallet. I never in a million years would have thought that a boy like him would be capable of doing such an act. At least now we have some money for food.

I give Millard a warm smile. "You're not a nerd, Mill. A dork maybe, but not a nerd."

"I don't see the difference,"

I tuck a stray lock of my hair behind my ear. I really don't know what I'm doing, and I don't know why I keep on doing it. "Well a nerd is a smart but a boring piece of crap,"

"_Wow,_" Millard replies sarcastically as I grin.

"A dork is not much different, but unlike a nerd, he's cute." I wink at Millard and walk back into the market to buy a few apples to take home.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Hope you enjoyed this one and please please please don't forget to Follow, Favorite and Review! :* **

**Lord Voldy: Thank you, bruthah. I will try to make my writing clearah and bettah. :3 And yah, I am workin' on the Enorace stuff. I'll see how I can insert it here lol**

**xXxChasingDreamsxXx: OH MY YES YOU DID OMG O_O But thanks for following me, hon. :* **


	13. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Forgive me for the very late update guys T-T Apparently, school's almost starting and there's some work we need to do for the week. Add that to me having writer's block. I am deeply sorry guys, most probably the next of my updates will take that long again or even longer. But I promised myself to type at least fifty words a day so I wouldn't leave you guys hanging. I actually want to finish this, unlike my other fic so don't lose hope LOL **

**Lord Voldy: Oh man that analogy I can't even understand xD**

**xxxChasingDreamsxxx: I'm glad you liked it! :D I was actually afraid I've become too cheesy or something. :3**

**imaguest101: OMG yes Enorace is perfff! 3 :D Thank you for the review! It's okay if you didn't before because what's important for me is that people are enjoying my works. ^_^ So I am sooo frikin happy that you did. :D**

* * *

**MILLARD's POV**

I lay in bed all night thinking of that day. It's this feeling when you just can't stop thinking about _her_ and everything she did, everything she said. It's when you know you don't like her like _that_ – at least that's what you think – but you don't know _why_ you're feeling like this. And when you think it's almost over, she'll be smiling at you once more and you'll be ruined all over again.

It's the feeling of confusion. The good kind of confusion.

This is one of the few times I feel lost and I don't like it much, but I admit, at some point it feels great and reassuring.

"This might not work," said Yuan.

I sigh and drop my head in my lap again. "How are we to know if you don't even try?"

"Yeah, you've got our memories already, it should be easier," said Hugh.

We were trying to contact Emma and Jacob by means of their minds. We've had no success yet though. Apparently, Yuan has a weakness too. He can only connect with everybody – including strangers – if they are within the vicinity. Once one gets too far away from him, he can only link with them if they are someone he knows by heart.

Yuan tried to gather information about the two from our memories. He saw our bond, how much we went through, their life stories as how they narrated it to us in the past, all things about them. I don't keep my hopes up though, as I know it's hard to focus all your energy on something you barely know about. Yuan bows his head and tries to reach them again, though as expected, he fails.

He grunts, curses and complains to us when Henry storms into the living room, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. His face was masked with worry so I perk up immediately.

"What's wrong?" asks Yuan.

He points towards the stairs with his thumb. "He's having a vision,"

* * *

Enoch holds Horace by the wrists as he cringes and kicks at the bed sheets. "Wake up, you stubborn mule. Wake up!"

Horace mumbles Fiona and Claire's names which makes Hugh become anxious. "What's he saying?"

Enoch, preoccupied with keeping Horace in place and trying to wake him up, doesn't answer. His teeth were gritted in impatience and anxiety. Horace raises his voice, his eyes flinging open. "_No_!" he cries out. His face was all red, his eyes glassy and his whole body drained. Horace looks over to us but settles his eyes on Hugh.

"She's hurt," he said, gulping.

Hugh's eyes widen at the statement. "Why? H-how? What happened?"

Horace crinkles his nose as Enoch helps him up and rubs his back concernedly though from what I see, a little awkwardly. Enoch isn't known as a comforter after all. Horace mumbles a "thank you," to his roommate before turning to us again. He was still panting hard from the exhaustion.

"She tried to save Claire and got herself hurt instead," said Horace.

Hugh demands in frustration. "_How?!"_

"Take it easy on him, will ya?" Enoch snaps back.

"I.. I can't remember, I'm sorry..." Horace slumps down as Hugh stomps out of the room, and out of the house. Mutterings fill the room, every one of us voicing out our own opinions and worries. Horace nearly falls back asleep due to exhaustion with Bronwyn, Enoch and Isla checking on him.

Yuan grunts and sits on the floor. "We haven't even done anything yet and now we've got more problems. How could it be worse?"

Vidya's snake hisses at him.

"How about... Not ever getting out of that facility and those wights taking our blood to kill our kind? I'm sure that's worse, it could _always_ be worse." Isla calmly munches on an apple from the ones we bought a few days ago.

"You people are such positive thinkers. Somebody give you awards _please_," said Yuan, sarcastically.

"After everything I've gone through and everything horrible I've seen, it's all I have left. Why would I give it up?" mutters Kate, whom I haven't noticed was actually behind me. "Besides, hasn't it gotten us out of all our troubles? All of _your_ troubles?" she motions towards us and we immediately get what she meant.

"As much as I'm concerned with your female friends," she continues. "I really think we should push through with the original plan. First of all, we can't go into the punishment loops as that would only be suicide,"

"How are we to _know, _if we don't even _try?_" Yuan said, making air quotes with his fingers. I know he was mocking me, but I don't bother.

"It's too dangerous. We'll be lucky if even one of us manages to get out." I state in my most academic tone. I want to let Yuan know how decided I am _not_ to save our friends though it kills me inside too. "Fiona and Claire have a huge chance of getting their souls taken, yes, but what use are we captured? If that happens, our chances of saving the ymbrynes and our friends would only be reduced from ten percent to _zero_. We wouldn't be helping anyone at all," I explain.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Soleil smiling up at me. "He's right. For god's sake we just escaped and burned to ashes an entire facility of theirs, and now that we know what we're really capable of, let's put ourselves in good use. Let's actually do something that'll count. _We can't afford to be reckless,_"

"I agree with Miss Searwood." Said Bronwyn. "The price is just too high,"

"Why, of all peculiar folks in all the world, does it have to be _us_ saving Peculiardom?" said Horace. "Now I am indeed certain the world is punishing us,"

Yuan grunts.

At the end of the day, everyone agreed to stick with the plan and stay for at least two more weeks. The decision shattered mostly everyone as we all worry for the safety of our friends, but it was the smartest move.

Afterwards, we try to look for Emma and Jacob while debating on what we do next along the way. It was the least risky and the most practical thing to do during these times. But of course that didn't mean us not caring about Fiona and Claire. Bronwyn and Hugh especially, were haunted by this even as they sleep.

If only I could do something.

My friends are counting on me more than anyone else. Right now, constantly proving Yuan wrong and coming up with the simplest plans yet with the most reasonable explanations, I know I'm doing good. I know I am somehow showing them that when time comes, we would not entirely be hopeless with me being the new Emma. But what happens after?

I head upstairs to Miss Condor's study and look for something that might catch my interest and take my mind off things. I open the door slightly, afraid to disturb anyone who might be in there, but finding no one. I proceed to walk inside.

The room itself looked antique. The woodworks of the furniture were very detailed and flowery, and on the wooden walls hung oil paintings of the renaissance and breathtaking landscapes with golden frames. It reminded me somehow of Miss Peregrine as well. Waves of guilt course through me.

_You did the right thing._

I stare at my feet for a while, and how its shape and size were outlined on the scarlet-red carpet that colored the floor. Miss Condor was obviously fond of elegance and extravagance.

A few feet away from me were her desk and files. I sat down on the chair and sorted through the papers. Unfortunately though, most of them were just class lectures or checked and to-be-checked assignments. I open one of her drawers and find nothing in there but a loaded black handgun and a piece of feather. I pick it up and stroke it as I used to do to Miss Peregrine. The idea pierces my heart so I put it back and shut the drawer.

On the desk, leaning against the wall was an old lamp. It was dusty and the glass was blurry inside. Its metal parts rusted and the paint on it slightly chipping off. Not knowing what else to do, I pick it up and examine it. Strangely though, the lamp felt lighter than how it looked, it was as if something was lacking in it. I turn it upside down and that's when I see it had a false bottom.

Its base was hollow, not flat as expected and it didn't have an inner part which proves that the lamp was indeed a fake. I look back to the place where it had previously been, my jaw dropping open as I see it.

It was a button.

* * *

**P.S. Aside from fanfictions, I also write a lot of poetry. If you guys wanna check it out, I have an account on DeviantArt. My username's ManemArveri. You can search for it if you want ** **:D Hope ya guys like it tooooo  
**

**WARNING: TOO MUCH FEELS.**


	14. Chapter 13

**SOLEIL's POV**

My room is the first one down the hall. I could swear I didn't pick this one on purpose, but it seems that this room was really meant for me. The curtains were made of detailed, flowery lace. The soft, comfy bed was clad in ornate patterns, just like the walls. In the closet beside my bed were piles and piles of pretty pastel-colored dresses made out of delicate, thin cloth. Clearly, whoever owned this must be a very pensive and dreamy person. I wonder what happened to her, could she be dead? Soul-less perhaps?

Under my creaky mattress, I found a couple of romance novels which I read before going to sleep each night. Not only did it clear my thoughts, it helped me think of a much more different and sweet situation than we are all in right now. Of course I would have preferred a different genre, but it was all I had. Across my bed was a dusty grand piano which I have been trying to learn how to play these past days.

"_If I earned a flower for everytime I thought of you," said Ophelia, with her auburn hair flowing in the light breeze. "I could walk for days in my garden."_

_Hector smiled and held her close as tightly as he could, desperate to touch every inch of her whole body, desperate to breathe the same air she did. "I would walk for a lifetime in mine,"_

I close the book and lean back on the wall, stretching my legs out on the bed. It reminded me of something I didn't want to be reminded of. A day's passed and still my cheeks heat up whenever I remember what I'd said to Millard.

Yes. I meant what I said; I really thought his intellectual side was adorable. But I hadn't meant to blurt it out like that and make things so awkward between us. Luckily though, I had this talent of masking my true emotions so I just kept smiling and talking about other things. Hopefully he didn't notice. _Hopefully_.

I turn and lie flat on my stomach, screaming my head off in a pillow. If I can't let loose by distraction, then let's just hope at least screaming will help me.

A knock on my door makes me jump up, turn, and due to much hurry, fall off the bed. I land on my buttocks and I groan in pain.

"Oh my bird, did I startle you? Goodness, I apologize!" Bare feet slap against the cold floor towards me as I hide my red face hastily in my hands.

I rushed to end the conversation immediately and be alone again. This is already too much embarrassment. "Apology accepted! Now what do you need?" I peek through my fingers and see nothing at all in front of me – again.

I feel Millard's breath and it seems like he's kneeled facing me. I hide my face even more. "Nevermind that. Are you alright? I _deeply_ apologize, I'm so sorry Soleil..."

I sigh and peek again. "Yes, I'm fine." A small crack in my voice proves otherwise though. Yes, it was _that_ painful. Damn these emotions.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm alright. What were you going to tell me?"

"Should I ask help from the others?"

"No need. I said I'm okay, now answer my question."

"Do you need help standing up?"

Frustration overcomes me so I put down my hands on the floor and puff out. "I said I'm fine so can you just _please_ answer my question now?"

When he replies, I can hear the big grin in his voice. "I'm sorry, I was just messing with you,"

I hold up a particular finger as Millard chuckles. "I didn't know _that_ existed in your time,"

"I didn't know I could learn anything from a prick like Yuan." I said with a slight giggle, the embarrassment fading out of me. "So what was it you were going to tell me?"

"Come on,"

* * *

Millard practically drags me to the end of the hall in Miss Condor's study. He knocks as if to check if anyone's gotten in there before us and with a satisfied sigh, opens it and proceeds inside. I follow closely behind him.

"Take the lamp, that one on the desk," I do as he says but not before giving him – or his coat – a questioning look.

The lamp's handle was cold against my fingers, which made the hairs on my skin stand up. With a slight jerk of my hand, I pull it up.

"Oh. I didn't see that coming," I mutter. Millard chuckles in excitement as he trudges over to me. "I know right?"

I was still staring at the coin-sized black button staring right up at me as if it dared me to press it and reveal something I was not ready to know. It seemed to scream of terrible things yet important secrets. But then again, it just might be my paranoia.

"Go push it," Millard nudges me from behind.

I turn and give him a strange look. "Have you pressed it already? Do you know what it could trigger?"

"Um..." Millard inhales and shrugs his shoulders. "I wanted _you_ to find out,"

Striding away from the desk and letting the lamp drop on the floor, I gasp out. "Are you insane? This could be a bomb or something! Th-this could obliterate our entire species for all we know!"

"Why would an ymbryne store a volatile material inside a house full of peculiar children?" he replies.

"How do you even know it's an ymbryne who had this put up in her house? The wights came here, so they could've... Put some of their stuff in here, I don't know. Even if it _was_ Miss Condor's, if the wights have found out about it then surely they've set some traps or something there."

Millard sighs. "If they've uncovered this, how come the lamp is still intact in its place? How come the dust on it's as thick as the skin of your toes? They would've at least dusted it off. Besides, don't you trust me? Have I ever been incorrect in my studies?"

_Damn_,I think. _This boy knows how to argue_.

He's right though. The dust colored the whole top of the desk with gray, the only clear spots being where the two of us touched the lamp and the circular spot where it had been. Clearly, it hadn't been touched for years. But I still won't press the button. "I'm scared, Mill."

"I assure you, there's nothing there to be afraid of."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

Before my mind can create more inane visions and scenes of us getting blown up to pieces, I take a deep breath and slam my fist hard on the button.

The room shakes a little bit, making me run and lean to the wall nearest to me. Millard follows and stands next to me. "Honestly, I'm starting to have doubts about this," his voice was shaky due to the shuddering of the room but it remained calm, though I'm sure he was far from calm. I curse both him and myself.

The wall across us cracks and for a moment there, I thought it was going to fall on us and squish us both alive. But of course it didn't. Instead, it detaches completely from the ceiling and starts jerkily and dustily sinking down to an unseen space below the floor. When it is no longer to be seen, the room stops shaking immediately, throwing us out of our feet and covering our surroundings with dust.

I cough and look up where the wall had been. It was all a foggy cloud of dust but beyond it, I'm sure I'm seeing dozens and dozens of bookshelves, each one stacked with its own sets of books. The shelves were at least seven feet in height.

Millard coughs. "Is this what I think it is?"

I smile to myself and stare at the library before us. "It's a library,"

He laughs and gets up, helping me on my feet as well. He stood there, gaping at the shelves of books we are yet to read. We tiptoed towards them, afraid that we might step on the wrong place and open up another secret fort in there or cause the creaky floorboards to break and fall in. Gladly it didn't. We reached the shelves safely.

Millard laughs out as he pulls one of the books out from its place in the shelf. "Why, this one's all about invisibility!"

I peer next to him and sure enough, on the cover was the title of the book – "The Wonders of Invisibility". The letters were carved on the fine, brown leather of the book, each one of them drawn in gold.

I pick another one from the same shelf. This one was red but the letters on its title were golden too – Duplication. I smile because I thought there was never such a thing.

"Duplication! That is one of the rarest and hardest to find peculiar abilities of all. Only one of fifty people would have that," said Millard.

I look over to where his coat and the book float in midair and ask. "Do you think they'll have one for my ability too?"

Millard sighs. "I'd like to think so, but I'm afraid this ability of yours is really, _really_ exceptional, unusual and uncommon. You might even be one in a million,"

On normal occasions, I would've been disappointed – who wouldn't want to know more about herself? – but this whole thing had me overwhelmed that all I can think of is how many of these I could read in one day and how much these would help us – or my friends – in discovering our – or their – capabilities.

"_Woah,_" Hugh stands in the doorway, gaping at the place we'd just discovered. "Is this for real?"

Millard chuckles. "That's the question I've also been asking,"

Hugh motions outside and soon enough, the other peculiars come in too, asking us how it got here. The others, not having put two and two together yet, were more worried about the "earthquake" that they felt just moments ago. I gladly explained to them about the lamp and the button and this library, as Millard was having too much fun choosing which books to read. Occasionally he'd call out and report what he'd just seen like, "They have a Map of Days too!" or "This book's about Healing!"

By the time I was done speaking, he came back with a stack of books in his arms. He could barely even keep balance. "I'm afraid I won't be getting any sleep tonight," he mutters.

"Nonsense. Just because we've uncovered a whole library doesn't mean you stop staying healthy. You said so yourself that we need all the rest we can get in case we bump into trouble, didn't you?" I take a few of his books from him and give him a warm smile.

"I suppose I did," he replied.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hi guys! I swear I would've updated this a day after the previous chapter, but my laptop had some problems and got locked for a few days. I had to wait before it got fixed. Sorry! Hope you still enjoyed this anyways. **

**Lord Voldy: They ain't Jacob after all. HEHEHEHEHEHE**  
**But you should write something too. If you ain't inspired then think about our PMs and do it as an act of revenge on me. xD Luv yaaa :* **

**Imaguest101: I'm **_**so**_** sorry for keeping you hanging! T.T But anyways, Chapter 13's here and I hope I met your expectations somehow. :3 There's more to come, I promise. ;) I can't say anything about Fiona and Claire though, I don't want to spoil anyone. :P**

**xXxChasingDreamsxXx: I DEFINITELY AGREE.**


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